Dini Mawuntyas, Madiun – Scores of protesters from the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the Central Java city of Madiun set fire to pieces of white cloth symbolising the flag of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) at a demonstration in front of the Madiun Matahari Plaza on Tuesday April 3.

The protesters were demanding that the FPI be disbanded and that the national chief of police fully investigate the attack by FPI and its allies against hundreds of Papernas members in Jakarta several days ago.

Unfurling Papernas posters and banners, the protesters held a march from the Madiun town square towards the Matahari Plaza. “The FPI is a mirror of the New Order that uses reactionary violence”, said field coordinator Bram Prayugo.

The action by Papernas sympathisers in Madiun follows a clash between Papernas demonstrators and the FPI and Betawi Brotherhood Forum in Jakarta on Thursday March 29.

[Translated by James Balowski.]