JAKARTA, Indonesia - Scores of Muslim Indonesian men entered
international hotels in the central Java city of Solo on Sunday warning
Americans to leave if the U.S. carries out revenge strikes against Afghanistan.
Witnesses and hotel staff said the men, representing several radical Muslim
groups, went to at least four hotels and demanded to see guest lists.
"They asked whether we had U.S. citizens staying in this hotel. I told
them we did not have any and they went out peacefully," Pautan Hidir
Hasan, a manager of the five-star Lor In hotel, told Reuters.
He said the men also distributed pamphlets which read: "Afghan attacked --
people from the U.S. and its allies must get out of Solo."
The Muslim group threatened to return to the hotels once America launched its
attack.
"If the U.S. and its allies go on and attack Afghanistan, their citizens
must leave Solo and Indonesia. If they don't, the hotels will bear the
consequences," group spokesman Abdullah Khoidir told reporters.
Solo, which lies 450 km (280 miles) east of Jakarta, is popular with foreign
tourists who visit its famous royal palace.
ANTI U.S. FEELINGS GROWING
Anti U.S. sentiment has been growing in the world's largest Muslim country
following the deadly September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Several hundred protesters held rallies in three cities in Indonesia on
Saturday shouting anti-U.S. slogans and threatening to boycott U.S. goods.
And one radical Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), last week
threatened to attack the U.S. embassy and round up American citizens for
expulsion if Washington uses force on Afghanistan which it accuses of
harbouring Osama bin Laden.
Washington believes Saudi-born bin Laden masterminded the attacks in which more
than 6,000 people are believed to have been killed.
Radical Muslim groups made similar demands at international hotels in Solo
including the Lor In almost a year ago when relations between Indonesia and the
United States had soured over a range of issues, including Washington's stance
over the Israel, Palestinian conflict.
Some analysts in Indonesia have said many in the world's fourth most populous
country believe the U.S. has been less than even-handed in its support for
Israel.
WE WANT MORE EVIDENCE
Indonesia's top Muslim group has said it will not take part in the growing anti
U.S. movement but said tensions could flare unless America could prove Saudi-born
Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks.
"In Indonesia where the majority of people follow Islam, a lot of people
have empathy towards Osama and Afghanistan," Hasyim Muzadi, head of the
40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), told Reuters.
But Muzadi said raiding hotels and rounding up American citizens was not within
the spirit of NU.
"NU has warned members not to join these raids. NU is built on religious
values not religious agitation or politicking," he said in an interview
late on Saturday.
Around 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people follow Islam.
06:34 09-23-01