DHAKA: The organisers of the Miss World beauty pageant in Indonesia insisted on Wednesday the show would go on, as Islamic hardline protests began to spread across the country days before the contest starts.

Hardliners have started mobilising to protest at the decision to host the contest in Muslim-majority Indonesia, while Islamic clerics and even a government minister have voiced criticism.

After a protest in the capital Jakarta this week, more than 600 demonstrators took to the streets Wednesday in two other major cities on the main island of Java - Surabaya and Bandung.

‘Miss World is an immoral event. If it goes ahead, we will all be punished by God,’ one protester shouted to the crowd in Bandung, where some 300 protesters responded with chants of ‘God is great’, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1808 HRS, SEPT 04, 2013
RoR/SRS