The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is bracing for another massive rally on Friday that the Muslim community members stage for protesting the burning of a black flag bearing an Arabic writing of “Tawhid”.
The calls for Muslims to join the “Act of Defending Tawhid 211” have gone viral on various popular social media platforms under the hashtag of “AksiBelaTauhid211”, including Twitter over the past week.
In response to this planned rally, which is actually the continuation of the last Friday`s demonstration, the Indonesian National Police have doubled the number of security personnel deployed to safeguard those expressing their democratic rights.
According to Deputy Chief of the National Police Commissioner General Ari Dono Sukmanto, around 14,000 security personnel would secure the massive rally, due to take place in front of the State Palace, Central Jakarta, after the Friday prayer.
The security personnel consist of those from the police, military, and the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), he told journalists after attending a meeting at the Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Ministry as cited from Antara.
For the sake of maintaining the law and order, Sukmanto called on the community members joining the “Act of Defending Tawhid 211” rally not to violate laws, and disrupt Jakarta`s traffic flows.
The similar rallies had also been staged simultaneously in various cities and towns, including Medan, and Bandung, during which the demonstrators demanded justice in resolving the case.
The black flag bearing the Arabic writing of “Tawhid” was burned by several members of the Nahdlatul Ulama`s Barisan Ansor Serba Guna (Banser) youth wing at a commemorative event of this year`s National Santri Day in Garut, West Java Province, on Oct 22.
Those committing the act were quoted by local media as saying the flag that they burned was that of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), an Islamic organization that the government had banned.
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