INDONESIA: Islamic Extremists Protest Jakarta's Gay Film Festival

Waving stills from the movies, hundreds of Islamic extremists protested yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia demanding the closure of a gay film festival. Via the Jakarta Post:

Clad in white Muslim attire, the members of the hard-line group removed posters of the movies to be screened during the Q Film Festival, being held from Sept. 21 to Sept. 30 in a number of theaters and cultural centers. Salim Alatas, chairman of the Jakarta branch of the FPI, said organizers of the festival had 24 hours to stop the festival. “We want the festival to be stopped as it screens movies that promote homosexual relationships,” Salim was quoted as saying by tempointeraktif.com. Dozens of police flanked the FPI members to avoid any acts of violence. Earlier, the FPI members staged a rally at the Goethe Institute German cultural center, and the French Cultural Center, and planned to march to the Japan Foundation center in Central Jakarta to convey their objection to the festival. “We do not want this place to be set on fire because of moral decadence,” Salim said during the rally at the Goethe Institute on Jl. Sam Ratulangi in Menteng, as quoted by kompas.com.

Festival organizers say they expected the protest and that the event will proceed as planned. According to the Guardian UK, the Islamic Defenders Front has previously "smashed bars, attacked transvestites and targeted other groups it considers blasphemous."