Indonesia Police to lockdown capital for blasphemy protest

In a bid to tackle the much-hyped protest by Muslim hardliners against the city's popular governor that threatens to ignite religious and racial flashpoints, Indonesian police are planning a massive show of force in the capital Jakarta on Friday.

An accusation of blasphemy against the Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese and minority Christian, who is an ally of the country's president, has galvanized his political opponents in the Muslim-majority nation of 250 million.

National Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said 16,000 police will be deployed along with 2,000 soldiers and 2,000 of Jakarta's public order officers for the protest that is expected to begin in the early afternoon following Friday prayers.

Gen Gatot Nurmantyo, chief of Indonesia's powerful military, has said it "will be in the frontline against any movement aimed at disrupting the unity and integrity of the nation."

Indonesians are already fighting on social media over the blasphemy claim and the protest, which organizers optimistically boast will attract half a million people to Jakarta's traffic clogged streets. Police have said it might draw up to 100,000 people based on communications with Muslim groups involved in its planning.

Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Indonesia and prosecutions have increased in the past decade. Amnesty International documented 106 convictions between 2004 and 2014 with some individuals imprisoned for up to five years.