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Rizieq defenders to rally despite no permission
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Thousands of people march to Jakarta's National Monument (Monas) complex to attend a mass prayer organized by the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Council’s Fatwa (GNPF-MUI) on Dec. 2, 2016. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
S
ome 500,000 people are expected to join a rally to defend fugitive firebrand cleric Rizieq Shihab on Friday although the police and mosque caretakers have not given a permit.
The protesters call themselves the Alumni 212 after a group who joined the Dec. 2 rally in Jakarta last year that demanded the prosecution of then Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama over his blasphemy case.
"We hope that this afternoon 500,000 people [will join the protests]," head of the Alumni 212 Presidium Ansufri Idrus Sambo said as quoted by kompas.com on Friday.
Ansufri said the group would carry out the protest at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta to defend ulemas and activists, who they said often become victims of criminalization, following the legal process against Islam Defenders Front (FPI) head Rizieq Shihab over an alleged pornography case.
He said that protesters from Bandung, West Java, and Medan, North Sumatra, were on the way to Istiqlal.
Ansufri added that the protest would be carried out until the tarawih (evening Ramadhan prayers) when the protesters prayed together in the mosque.
The mosque caretaker has not given permission for this protest because it coincides with other activities in the mosque.
They are also not permitted to deliver oration by command car in the mosque yard. (cal)
