Indonesian president condemns violent protest

TIL Desk/World/Jakarta-Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday condemned the violence in Friday’s protest by Islamist groups against the governor of Jakarta, who has been accused of blasphemy. Around 50,000 people took part in the protests, organised by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), to demand the prosecution of Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Chinese Christian widely known as Ahok.

The police, who deployed 18,000 officers, used tear gas to disperse the crowd of demonstrators, who threw stones and bottles at the authorities in front of the presidential palace after a peaceful march. Groups of protesters tried unsuccessfully to enter the grounds of the presidential palace and clashed with the police until early Saturday.

The violence spread to several parts of northern Jakarta, where the country’s ethnic Chinese community lives, as protesters set fire to vehicles and garbage bins and looted some shops. President Widodo lamented the chaos and violence following the march caused by protesters who refused to disperse after 6 pm on Friday. “And we see this was steered by political actors who were exploiting the situation,” he said after a meeting with the army and police chiefs and cabinet members.