Arya Dipa, Bandung – At least 200 members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) staged a demonstration in Bandung, West Java on Thursday, demanding that the administration immediately implement a total ban of Ahmadiyah activities in the province.

The FPI members, most of them wearing long-sleeved, white FPI T-shirts and caps, held their protest in front of the West Java Legislative Council and the West Java governor's office. They urged the administration to firmly implement the 2011 Governor Regulation No. 12 on the banning of Ahmadiyah activities in West Java.

"One of our members has been arrested for damaging the Ahmadis' mosque. We can accept it if he is found guilty for the assault," said FPI West Java chairman Abdul Kohar. "But what about the Ahmadis who ignore the regulation and keep on conducting public activities? Should they not also be punished?"

On Oct. 28, Bandung Police named FPI member M. Asep Abdurahman, alias Utep, as a suspect in the attack of the Ahmadis' An-Nasir Mosque on the eve of Idul Adha, the Islamic Day of Sacrifice.

Utep and other FPI members raided the mosque and forced the Ahmadis to call off all Idul Adha activities. Knowing that the Ahmadis had failed to follow the FPI's demand, Utep became enraged and smashed the mosque's windows.

Utep was charged under Article 170 of the Criminal Code on assault, Article 406 on the destruction of private property and Article 335 on offensive behavior.

Abdul said the FPI would have not damaged the mosque had the Ahmadis complied with the governor's regulation and stopped performing religious practices in public. (lfr)