Hizbut Tahrir pickets Dutch embassy to protest anti-Islamic film "Fitna"

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Tens of members of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) staged a rally in front of the Dutch embassy here on Tuesday to protest an anti-Islamic film produced by a right-wing Dutch politician.

"The Government of the Netherlands and other European countries have not banned the blasphemy of Islam under the pretext of freedom of speech. This demonstrates that they are applying a double standard policy," Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, a HTI spokesman, said here on Tuesday.

Some European countries punished whoever doubted or criticized the truth about the holocaust but they let free those who insulted Islam, he said.

HTI strongly protested the production and dissemination of the provocative film titled `Fitna` (`Discord` in Arabic) and demanded that Geert Wilders, the film producer, be punished.

Last Monday, hundreds of members of the Islam Defenders` Front (FPI) staged a rally in front of the Dutch embassy.

The FPI condemned the Dutch government for letting the film to be shown to the public and asked the Indonesian government to recall the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands in protest against the provocative film which had insulted Islam.

The rally which caused a traffic congestion in Jalan Rasunda Said was tightly guarded by security officers equipped among other things with water cannon. (*) end