Six members of Muslim's Ahmadiyah sect attended the Australian consulate general's office in Indonesia's Bali island Thursday looking for asylum, but were denied entry.
The six came from Lombok, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province just east of the resort island, reported leading news website Detikcom.
"We came here looking for asylum because living in our homeland is no longer safe," the group's leader named Sahidin was quoted as saying.
He said the six-men group were representing 195 Ahmadiyah members who were forced from their homes and now staying at refugee camps in West Nusa Tenggara.
But since the consulate general kept the door shut, they planned to picket other foreign mission offices on the island.
"We may go to the German consulate, or any other consulates that will accept us," Sahidin said.
The Ahmadiyah existence has sparked violence in the world's most populous Muslim nation as it doesn't recognize Muhammad as Islam's last prophet.
Many Ahmadiyah mosques across the country have been burned down by hardliners and the sect also has become the subject of other acts of vandalism, including destruction of its members' homes.
Source:Xinhua
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