Tawhid Flag Protest
About a thousand protesters gathered in front of the offices of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs in Central Jakarta on Friday to demand that the government prosecute the people accused of having burned a copy of the flag of the banned mass organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, during a commemoration of National Santri Day in Garut, West Java, on Oct. 22.
The flag contains the text of the tawhid, which is the core of the Islamic faith and expresses the oneness of God.
More than 7,600 police personnel were deployed to maintain order during the protest, which started at the Arjuna Wijaya chariot statue near the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta after Friday prayers.
The Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor), which is affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Islamic mass organization, has confirmed that its members had been involved in the flag-burning incident after a video of it went viral.
The incident occurred when a person carrying the flag allegedly tried to disrupt the Santri Day commemoration.
The leadership of GP Ansor has since apologized for the incident.