More than 10,000 Indonesian Muslims rallied at the national parliament compound in Jakarta Friday, condemning Israel for the violence in the Middle East.
Chanting "Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest)," the protestors set fire to the Israeli flag and slaughtered a goat wrapped in the US and Israeli emblems.
"This is to show our disgust at the two nation's hostilities against Muslims," protestor Ahmad Lukman told AFP.
Lukman said some of the protestors, mostly members and supporters of the Muslim Justice Party, would stay overnight at the parliament in anticipation of the arrival of an Israeli delegation at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference due to open here Sunday.
The Israeli parliament has already announced it would not attend the Jakarta conference, citing security concerns, but the protesters vowed to remain vigilant.
"I know they have said they would not come, but if they do we will expel them right away," Lukman said.
Anti-Israeli sentiment has been on the rise in Indonesia, one of the world's most populous Muslim states, following the two weeks of violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Over 100 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed in the violence.
Israel sent helicopters on Thursday to blast Palestinian targets, in a step closer to all-out war, after three of its soldiers were lynched by a Palestinian mob.
Meanwhile, some 250 students from the state-run Indonesia University also burned the Israeli flag and tyres at the US embassy here, calling on Islamic nations to join forces to fight against "Zionist aggressors" and stop counting on the United Nations and the United States to solve the dispute.
"A Palestinian state can only be realized through the path of Allah," the students said in a statement.
The protestors laters marched to the UN office nearby and pelted the building with lumps of clay.
Indonesia is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and has no diplomatic relations with Israel – JAKARTA (AFP)
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