Jakarta – Some 300 members of a radical Muslim group on Tuesday staged a protest outside the US embassy, accusing the United States and the IMF of aggravating the Indonesian economic crisis.

The protesters, from the Front for the Defenders of Islam, urged the government to sever relations with the US and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is coordinating a five-billion dollar loan program to bail out Indonesia's economy.

"Prices soar because the government abide by the wishes of the IMF and the US," read one of their posters. "The IMF worsens the economy," another said.

The Front also criticised the US war in Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, describing it as a "Crusade against Islam".

The government last week raised fuel prices by an average 22 percent. It said the move was aimed at easing the budget burden created by subsidies and curbing the smuggling of fuel out of the country. The IMF has urged the government to cut back on subsidies, including on fuel.

The tightly-guarded embassy was the scene of near-daily protests late last year, before and after the United States launched attacks in Afghanistan. But the protests had died out in recent months.