Cafes and pool halls closed their doors Saturday when around a thousand Islamic organization members passed through Bogor's main streets.

While the group were passing from the city center to Ciawi subdistrict as part of a religious ceremony, business owners said they wanted to play it safe and avoid any attacks.

When the group passed Warung Jambu, several shops selling alcohol stopped work and several customers hid themselves. Pool hall owners on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman turned the lights out at the hall while guests hid inside the building.

One Bogor City Police officer who guarded the group along the main streets said they meant no harm to Bogor residents. "They are just passing, they mean no harm," the officer said as quoted by Tempointeraktif news portal.

The unidentified officer said, however, that he understood why people felt uneasy, given that many such groups had forced cafes, pool halls and bars to close on various occasions including Ramadan.

Traditionally Bogor does not have not have any special ruling for such outlets over religious festivals, or any other occasion.

In the past Muslim groups have sent mobs to such places when they felt these people interfered with the solemnity of their holidays.

A group of Muslims attacked cafes, brothels, small hotels and other businesses on the western outskirts of Bogor last October because (they said) they felt the businesses were "violating the sanctity of Ramadhan."

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said all citizens, the police and the Home Ministry should consider all violent attacks and the radical organizations responsible for them, as a common enemy. He urged victims to file police reports, saying this was the only way to catch those responsible.

Sisno also suggested that the Home Ministry review the organizational permits of radical groups responsible for these and similar attacks. "I think the ministry should ban these groups to avoid this kind of incident," Sisno said.