World

Valentine's Day promotes casual sex, allege Indonesians

AFP

Indonesian Muslim school students on Monday staged a protest against Valentine's Day, denouncing what they said was a Western celebration that encourages casual sex.

While teenagers in many countries treat the day as an occasion to declare their love for classmates, in the Indonesian city of Surabaya it was a different story as students from one school staged the noisy demonstration.

"Say no to Valentine!" chanted the students, who were aged between 13 and 15 and included many girls wearing headscarves.

It was the latest expression of anger at Valentine's Day in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, where Islamic clerics and some pious Muslims typically use the occasion to target what they see as Western decadence.