Indonesia asks YouTube to block Islamic prayer-dancing video
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Jakarta - Indonesia has asked YouTube to block a video showing high school girls performing Islamic prayers and then dancing to a song by US pop group Maroon 5, a government minister said Wednesday.
The five girls have been expelled from their senior high school over the video, which has been viewed 300,000 times on the Google-owned video sharing website.
Police said they were considering charging the girls with blasphemy.
"We have cooperation with Google and contents that have the potential to cause religious and ethnic discords are usually dealt with promptly," Information Minister Taifatul Sembiring said.
In the video the girls, wearing school tracksuits, playfully perform an Islamic prayer known as salat, complete with the recitals of Koranic verses and then switch the apparent ritual to dancing to the song One More Time by Maroon 5.
The act, which involves hit shaking and suggestive hand gestures, was repeated several times in the 5-minute video.
"It may seem trivial, but it can have dire consequences,"Sembiring said.//DPA
