Christian leads protest against Indonesian vice president at Islamic Centre praised by Prince Charles

May 18, 2017 by Jill

by James McIntyre, Christian Today:

A passionate protest is taking place this afternoon outside the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, where the Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla is due to deliver a lecture.

The protest in favour of Christians and other minorities and against Islamic extremism comes just a day after the Prince of Wales spoke at the inauguration of the new home for the centre, appealing for better ‘cultural connectivity’ in society and praising the centre’s goals of ‘dialogue, understanding and connection’.

The peaceful demonstration is aimed at highlighting the ‘ongoing persecution of minorities,’ and comes after the jailing earlier this month of the Christian former governor of Jakarta, Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama, on blasphemy charges.

One demonstrator claimed that eight security men from the embassy could be seen taking photographs of the protesters.

Mariella Djorghi, a Catholic from Indonesia and a trained lawyer who helped organise the protest, told Christian Today: ‘My main point is to ask questions to Jusuf Kalla – how he would envisage a moderate Islam in Indonesia. Because at the moment what we have seen is a Christian governor who has lost a re-election because Muslims went onto the streets with placards quoting a Koran verse – al Ma’ida 51.’

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