Tens of thousands of hardline Muslims marched on Friday on the centre of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its minority-Christian governor for alleged blasphemy.
Fearing violence, police put on a show of force supported by soldiers and public order officers, while embassies and some shops closed and Jakarta's normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.
The predominantly male demonstrators, most wearing white shirts and skull caps, massed at the Istiqlal mosque for the protest following weekly Friday prayers and marched on the nearby presidential palace. Large protests also took place in other cities including Medan on Sumatra, Makassar in Sulawesi and Malang in East Java.
