[solved] allow query string (?p=) to one directory only

Strange thing.. if I change one character of that first URL, it works fine.. it's the '&' char. before 'remote':

domain.com/daforum/index.php?p=/?remote=http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.com%2Fforum%2F&locale=

I then tried allowing '&' characters via the config.php as such:
$config['permitted_uri_chars'] = 'a-z 0-9~%.:_\&\=\-';

This did not work.