KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 ― A group of retired senior civil servants today accused the Muslims involved in Sunday's Taman Medan cross protest of tarnishing Islam's image as a religion of peace.

The group dubbed G25 said that instead of upholding the tenets of peace and tolerance that Islam prescribes, the protesters had shown hatred and intolerance when they forced the small church congregation to tear down the Christian religious symbol from their wall.

“The Taman Medan protestors, by their crude, disrespectful and unreasonable behaviour, have tarnished the image of Islam, the very religion they claim to 'protect'.

“Islam is a religion of peace, mercy and compassion and there is no place in Islam for intolerance towards other faiths and their places of worship,” G25 said in a statement sent by its coordinator Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin this morning.

Noor Farida said the protestors should deepen their knowledge of Islam and its history, pointing out that the faith demands that its followers show respect for those of other religious beliefs and all other places of worship.

One example, she explained in the statement, is how Prophet Muhammad himself had allowed a Christian delegation from Yemen to pray in his mosque in Madinah.

“There are many other examples of the Caliphs of Islam who protected the religious freedom of non-Muslim communities living under their rule and  the sanctity of their places of worship,” she added.

On Sunday, it was reported that around 50 residents of Taman Medan staged a protest against a new church in the area for putting up a cross, a religious symbol for the Christians, on its facade.

The group claimed that putting up a cross in a Malay-majority area is a challenge to Islam and could influence young Muslims.

The police arrived about 30 minutes after the demonstration began to act as intermediaries between the protesters and church leaders. The church took down the cross several hours later.

G25 also urged for firm action against the protesters today, saying failure to do so would only embolden religious extremists to trample on the rights of Malaysia's religious minorities.

“It will also provide damning evidence to the international community that Malaysia is no longer a country where racial harmony reigns and religious freedom is practised,” it said.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar cleared the Taman Medan church protesters of wrongdoing after saying he saw no criminal element in their act of forcing the Petaling Jaya church to remove the cross from its facade.