Thousands of Indonesians and a number of religious organizations gathered on Sunday at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta to hold an interfaith demonstration in support of Palestinians and to make a plea for a cease to the siege in Gaza.

People began to arrive in droves at the Monas complex on Sunday morning. Many of them were sporting scarves of the Palestinian flag.

The event was initiated by a group called the Indonesian People's Alliance for Palestine and renowned Muslim scholar Din Syamsuddin, and organized by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) – the country’s top Muslim clerical body.

One of the main events during the rally was a joint declaration by representatives from all six of the nation’s recognized religions to symbolize interfaith solidarity among Indonesians for Palestine. This included representatives from the MUI, the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), the Indonesian Hindu Religious Council (PHDI), the Indonesian Buddhist Association (Permabudhi) and the High Council of Confucianism in Indonesia (Matakin).

Reading the declaration, Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, a lecturer from the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, called for an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict and for an international court to open a human rights investigation into the conflict.

A number of the nation’s top officials, including Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy and Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, were present at the rally, along with House of Representatives speaker Puan Maharani, presidential hopeful Anies Baswedan and former vice president Jusuf Kalla.

Retno Marsudi said in her speech that Indonesia would continue to “support the struggle of the Palestinian people”.