Indonesian Muslims protest Egypt's Gaza wall
Released on - Sunday,17 January , 2010 -10:33
More than 200 Indonesian Muslims protested in Jakarta Sunday against an underground wall being built to block a network of tunnels crossing Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.
The demonstrators from the Voice of Palestine support group carried banners reading "Stop Building Steel Wall on Gaza" and chanted "Die America, Die Egypt" in front of the Egyptian embassy.
After years of ignoring the tunnel smuggling -- which is used to bypass Israeli sanctions -- Egypt began building the wall after falling out with Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza.
"We demand Egypt to remove the wall on humanitarian grounds. Erecting the wall will cause the Palestinians to suffer economically. Food supply will be affected," the group's coordinator, Hisyam Sulaiman, 42, told AFP.
The network, which Hamas has been accused of using to smuggle weapons into the territory, has withstood Israeli air strikes and Egyptian attempts to flood the tunnels with water and gas.
Citing national security, Egypt is now building an underground iron wall in a bid to tighten its Sinai border with the restive Palestinian territory.
The United States has voiced its support for the wall's construction, saying it will stop arms smuggling.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, with 234 million people, is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause.