JAKARTA: Chanting Islamic radicals in Indonesia burnt effigies of Miss World beauty pageant organisers and branded them “infidels” yesterday during an angry protest two days before the show starts.
The past week has seen hundreds of demonstrators take to the streets, while hardliners, rights groups and even a government minister have united to express outrage at the decision to host the contest in the Muslim-majority country.
Yesterday, hundreds of hardliners in traditional Islamic skullcaps and robes, accompanied by a handful of women in headscarves, marched through the capital Jakarta, and protests erupted in other parts of the sprawling archipelago.
The 700-strong crowd in the capital gathered at the head office of MNC media group, which will broadcast the show and is the local organiser, brandishing banners reading “From infidels, by infidels, to ruin Indonesia”.
Some demonstrators used red spray-paint to write “pimp’s office” on the building, which was surrounded by barbed wire and heavily guarded by police.
Hundreds of protesters also took to the streets yesterday in other major cities across Indonesia, including Bandung on the main island of Java, Medan on Sumatra island, and Banjarmasin on Indonesian Borneo.
More than 120 Miss World contests have already arrived for the contest.
AFP
