Kusumasari Ayuningtyas, Surakarta – While protests demanding the disbandment of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) have been flaring in other cities, about 200 other people claiming to be members of various Muslim organizations requested to opposite at a rally in Surakarta, Central Java, on Thursday afternoon.

Declaring to be grouped under the Surakarta Muslim Paramilitary Troop (LUIS), which the FPI is a member of, they held the rally in front of the Surakarta Police headquarters to reject demands for the disbandment of the FPI voiced at other protests.

They could not enter the headquarters due to a security barricade. Some protesters were allowed to go inside to talk to the police.

"We just asked the police to pass our message on to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono through the National Police chief," said Khoirul Suparjo, the chairman of the FPI's Surakarta branch.

Khoirul, who was among the representatives allowed inside, said that the protesters wanted the President to continue allowing them to unite and gather as a group of Indonesian citizens.

Khoirul denied that the protest was deliberately conducted to coincide with the President's official visit to the greater Surakarta region. "It is just a coincidence," he said.

The President arrived in Surakarta on Thursday morning, and continued onto Sragen regency to visit a pre-historic human being held in a museum in Sangiran.

He was accompanied by 11 ministers and Central Java Governor Bibit Waluyo. He reportedly spent the previous night in Surakarta and attended a morning harvest ceremony in Sragen.

Separately, Surakarta Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Luthfi told reporters that FPI members spoke to police during the meeting and handed over a letter addressed to the National Police chief.

"There was nothing special about the meeting. They just wanted to express a few things conveyed through the letter," Ahmad said, adding that he would pass the letter to his superior, to be given to the National Police chief.