Gay film festival attacked by masked Islamic protesters

An international film festival celebrating gay cinema was yesterday targeted by masked Islamic hardliners in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.


The protesters, members of the Islamic Defenders Front, chanted homophobic slogans and accused organisers of the Q! film festival, now in its ninth year, of blasphemy, threatening to burn down a venue if screenings did not halt. The event, which is being held at foreign cultural centres in Jakarta, opened last week and was scheduled to run until Wednesday night. It aims to raise awareness of gay issues.

Festival co-founder and director John Badalu told the Jakarta Post he and his team were committed to running the festival according to schedule. "We're still going to go on," he said. However, organisers admitted last night that they had been forced to cancel some screenings.

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