Muslims rally to ban sect in Indonesia

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Thousands of hardline Indonesian Muslims rallied outside the presidential palace and Jakarta police headquarters on Monday to urge the president to disband a sect branded by many Muslims as "deviant".

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has to decide on the fate of the Ahmadiyya after a government team tasked with monitoring religious groups recommended it should be banned as the sect's teachings deviate from fundamental Islamic tenets.

The Ahmadis refuse to accept the Prophet Mohammad as Islam's final prophet, and say their founder is a prophet and messiah.

The group has been a subject of heated controversy after Indonesia's Ulema Council, the country's Islamic authority, branded the group "deviant".

The protesters -- who called themselves "United Muslims' Action to Disband Ahmadiyya" -- wore traditional Muslim skull caps and shouted slogans such as "SBY, be clear in banning Ahmadiyya".

Yudhoyono is popularly known by his initials, SBY.

"Today is the beginning of our fight. We are ready to die for the Ahmadiyya sect's dismissal," said Abdurrahman of Indonesia's Muslim Forum (FUI). "If SBY ignores us, we will bring him down."

An unnamed speaker urged all Muslims to unite to support a ban. "There's only one word, disband Ahmadiyya. To all of you who feel that you have faith in Islam, (you) must support the disbanding of Ahmadiyya."

The latest protest comes after an attack by members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), well-known for its attacks on bars and nightclubs in Indonesia during the Muslim fasting month, on an interfaith rally in Jakarta, which provoked an outcry among moderates.