Jakarta – Members of the hardline Islamic Defender's Front, or FPI, clashed with the Indonesian Lower Class Movement, known as GMBI, while firebrand cleric Rizieq Shihab was questioned by police in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday (12/01).

Rizieq, leader of the FPI, and his supporters were mobbed by members of GMBI as they left police headquarters. GMBI members allegedly damaged a motorcycle and a black minivan carrying members of the hardline Islamic group.

The two organizations had both been protesting at the headquarters in Jalan Soekarno-Hatta, Bandung. FPI members had tried to breach the heavily guarded western gate of the complex, while the other group gathered at the eastern gate.

Police secured the premise by installing a barbwire barricade between the two organizations with the clash occurring while the groups were being dispersed.

Previously, several local West Java organizations accused Rizieq of insulting Sundanese culture by making a pun on "sampurasun," the Sundanese word for "hello," and "campur racun" ("mixed with poison").

Rizieq is facing a string of police reports, ranging from blasphemy and hate speech to defamation. He was recently reported again to the Jakarta Police for a speech that went viral across social media in which he allegedly claimed the new rupiah banknotes feature the communist hammer and sickle symbol.

Rizieq said he is not worried by the many legal proceedings he faces, arguing he had only expressed "general worries." Several watchdog organizations and experts have called on the National Police to fast track investigations against the FPI leader.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.id/news/fpi-activists-clash-rizieq-shihab-bandung-police-questioning/