Dozens of Islamic hard-liners protested against an international gay film festival in Indonesia's capital Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of several screenings. 

The Q! Film Festival, being held at foreign cultural centres in Jakarta, opened last week and was slated to run until Wednesday night. In its ninth year, it aims to raise awareness of gay issues. 

Members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front — some wearing masks, white robes and turbans — chanted anti-gay slogans and said the movies were blasphemous. 

Showings at the Goethe Institute of Germany, which was being guarded by police, would not be disrupted, said Dinyah Latuconsina, the centre's program assistant. 

But the French Cultural Center and Japan Foundation decided to halt remaining screenings.

Related: Study finds rising intolerance among Indonesian Muslims @ Jakarta Globe.

Indonesian police confirmed that Muharli Barda, the notorious leader of the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) in Bekasi, has been detained for his role in an anti-Christian incident that occurred on 12 September. Police also said that nine other people were involved, but did not disclose their names.

The incident in question occurred last Sunday when a Protestant clergyman, Rev Afian Sihombing, was attacked. He is the head of a Christian community in East Pondonk Bekasi Regency. He is currently in hospital with multiple stab wounds to the stomach. Rev Luspida Simanjutak was also injured during the attack, with wounds to the face, head and back. She and Rev Sihombing lead the Huria Batak Kristen Protestan (HBKP).

After initially taking a guarded position, police became more involved following a statement by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who said that Christians should have justice.

“There are ten suspects,” Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri announced. He declined however to give any further comments.

Another two could have been killed during the "unrest":

Hundreds of residents armed with machetes clashed with security forces using water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets on Wednesday in Jakarta over a plan to renovate an area containing an Islamic scholar's tomb.
The local hospital in Koja, north Jakarta, said it was treating 54 people following the fighting between about 2,000 public order officers and residents, the worst civil disturbances in several years in the Indonesian capital.
....Some of the protesters were supporters of the Islamic Defenders Front, a hardline Muslim group known for attacking bars and nightclubs. Several appeared to be teenagers.
Metro TV said two people died in the unrest but did not cite a source.
The protesters thought the city government was trying to remove the tomb of Habib Hasan, an Islamic scholar who died in the mid-1700s, on land owned by state-owned port company Pelindo II. The Jakarta local government denied it had plans to dismantle the tomb, saying it wanted to renovate it.
"The location (of the clash) is right in front of the main gate, so there is a disruption" of port activities, said Kiki Hikmat, a staff member of Pelindo II. "The container traffic is slower because there are crowds on the street."

Indonesia is a so-called "moderate" country. These guys are "hardline" (that is, they are "far and beyond"-extremists) and really violent. Who goes to a demostration with a machete with other people who also carry machetes?