The Surabaya Police escorted Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members on Sunday as they raided shopping malls in the East Java capital to check whether outlets had ordered employees to wear Christmas attire such as Santa hats.

For promotional purposes, many companies ask their employees to wear holiday season paraphernalia, including Santa hats, when serving customers ahead of Christmas and New Year celebrations. Recently, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict banning companies from forcing staff to wear such items, deeming it haram.

Hundreds of officers from the Surabaya Police and East Java Police's Mobile Brigade escorted the Surabaya FPI members during their raid on the malls, tribunnews.com reported Sunday.

Surabaya Police chief Sr. Comr. M. Iqbal was seen leading the operation. (evi)