Mayor Ridwan Kamil of Bandung, capital of Indonesia’s West Java province, has ordered the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), a hardline Islamic group, to take down ‘provocative’ banners targeting lesbians and gay men. The mayor’s orders came after FPI members raided boarding houses in the country’s third largest city where they believed gay people were staying and put up signs demanding that they leave.

‘I have reprimanded the FPI. They admitted what they did,’ the mayor said in a text message forwarded to Reuters by an aide. ‘Provocative banners have to be taken down.’

The FPI has harassed and ‘raided’ human rights training events as well as LGBT film festivals over the years. While Indonesia has the largest Muslim population than any other country in the world, with approximately 95% of its population of 207 million identifying themselves as Muslim, the Southeast Asian country is a secular nation that recognizes six official religions. Read more via Gay Star News