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REUTERS, Thursday October 11, 2001 7:10 PM Indonesian Muslim group says it will expel Americans By Tomi Soetjipto JAKARTA (Reuters) - A radical Indonesian Muslim group said on Thursday it would hunt down Americans and Britons to try to drive them out after the government ignored a deadline to cut ties with the United States over air attacks on Afghanistan. As the small but vocal Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) made its threat, 1,000 women wearing white veils and men in robes stood at the heavily fortified U.S. embassy shouting "destroy America" in the fourth straight day of limited but often rowdy protests. The demonstrators dispersed as rain swept the capital. The FPI -- whose threats are rejected by most Muslims in the world's largest Islamic community and have often proved hollow -- had given President Megawati Sukarnoputri until Thursday to cut ties with Washington over the strikes on Islamic Afghanistan. "The sweeping (hunt) will be conducted as elegantly as it can. We will approach foreigners...For Americans and Britons, they will be warned in a nice way to leave Indonesia. If necessary, we will take them to the airport," FPI chief Muhammad Rizieq told Reuters. Police have made clear violence against foreigners will not be tolerated and said they would charge Rizieq with incitement on Friday. They also threatened to detain any of his followers caught trying to drive Americans and Britons out of the country. "The police will charge the FPI leader for inciting the public but we have to summon and question him first," Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam told Reuters without saying why police were not acting sooner. HOTELS TO BE TARGETED Asked what would happen if foreigners objected to leaving, Rizieq said: "If they refuse to leave then we will just give them a warning that anything could happen to them, that we cannot take any responsibility for actions that may be carried out by certain groups of people." He did not identify these groups. Rizieq said areas to be targeted in Jakarta included hotels and residential areas where many foreigners live, adding FPI members were not obligated to take part. Rizieq insisted other foreigners in Indonesia had nothing to fear, adding the FPI had no intention to attack Americans and Britons. However, he said uneducated Muslims might lash out, adding this would be shameful and embarrassing for Islam. "It's for their safety. In this situation, it's safer if they stay with their family (overseas) rather than here because anything could happen," Rizieq added. FPI had also previously threatened to attack foreign assets in Indonesia. Rizieq did not say if that threat remained. Although the FPI is small -- it claims thousands of members -- it has often spooked expatriates in the past, raiding and wrecking bars and restaurants favoured by foreigners. After years of political and economic chaos, Indonesia remains volatile and many impoverished and unemployed youths are quickly stirred. FOCUS ON FRIDAY PRAYERS Further anti-American protests are also expected after Muslim prayers on Friday, the Islamic sabbath, and this occasion has often been the trigger for big demonstrations in Jakarta. Trying to tread a thin line between backing a key trade and investment partner and appeasing radicals, Jakarta has been cautious in its public comments on the strikes on Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks on the United States. Jakarta has urged the coalition to limit the strikes to strategic military targets to minimise civilian casualties. Mainstream Indonesian Muslim groups have condemned the U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan, but they have also slammed the anti-U.S. protests as excessive. Already, the rising anti-Western sentiment has hit financial markets, driving down the rupiah and stocks. Tourism operators have also blamed the rising anti-U.S. sentiment for a falloff in business. On Thursday afternoon, Jakarta's main backpacker area around the normally bustling Jaksa Street in the city centre was virtually empty of foreigners. "It's quiet. There is only the two of us here, myself and the security guard," a glum-looking Max Maramis, a worker at the Djody Hotel in the area, told Reuters. He said the hotel had no guests at all. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report that the U.S. strikes presented Megawati -- who has said nothing about them publicly -- with a "huge dilemma". The report said even though radical Islam represented only a small minority in Indonesia, the future behaviour of the Muslim community would depend on how the United States and its allies dealt with the Afghan situation. "...The more civilian casualties there are in Afghanistan and other countries accused of 'harbouring' terrorists, the more difficult it will be to guarantee that violence will not take place," said the report. The U.S. embassy in Jakarta was still closed to the general public on Thursday, although it was open for Americans requiring emergency services. The British embassy reopened on Wednesday.
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