Indonesia | Protestors burn US flags in fourth day of Jerusalem protests

Protesters burn a poster of U.S. President Donald Trump during a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta yesterday

Activists burned U.S. and Israeli flags in front of the American embassy in Jakarta yesterday in a fourth day of protests in Indonesia against President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Several hundred protesters from an Islamic youth group rallied outside the embassy, burning flags and images of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

Wearing white robes, the protesters unfurled banners reading “U.S. Embassy, Get Out from Al-Quds” and “We are with the Palestinians.” Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, the historic Middle East city that is a holy site for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

A weekend protest at the embassy attracted several thousand people and similar protests have been held in other cities around Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has strongly condemned Trump’s move, which he described as a violation of U.N. resolutions.

Indonesia does not have diplomatic ties with Israel and has long been a strong supporter of Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

Trump’s announcement last week overturned decades of U.S. policy, and a longstanding international consensus, that the fate of Jerusalem be decided as a part of a peace deal between Israel and Palestine.

Israeli and Palestinian claims to the city’s eastern sector form the core of their conflict, and Trump’s announcement was seen as siding with the Israelis. AP