Banyumas – A coalition of youth organizations in Banyumas, Central Java, has rejected the presence of firebrand Muslim cleric Rizieq Shihab in the regency. The leader of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is scheduled to deliver a sermon at an Islamic boarding school in Cilongok district on Tuesday.

Yudho F. Sudiro, the coordinator of the coalition, said the coalition had sent a letter of rejection to the sermon organizer. "We have also erected hundreds of banners expressing our refusal to accept the presence of Rizieq and his FPI supporters anywhere in Purwokerto," he said on Monday.

Among the organizations joining the protest are Pemuda Pancasila, Laskar Merah Putih, Ansor Youth Movement and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) youth wing Anshor (Banser), Yudho said.

Chairman of Banser's Banyumas chapter, Slamet Ibnu Ansori, said his organization rejected the presence of the FPI as it often used violence to promote its causes. Habib Mansyur of the sermon organizing committee, meanwhile, said that the event was purely a preaching activity.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/02/23/islands-focus-banyumas-youth-say-no-fpi-leader.html