2 Killed in Indonesian Riots as Chinese Stores Looted
[Lateline News (lateline.muzi.net): 9/2/98] JAKARTA, Indonesia - Hundreds of ethnic Chinese fled a northern Indonesian townTuesday after stone-throwing mobs attacked their shops and homes in a second day of rioting.Residents said riot police shot and killed two people.

Looters, some of them shouting separatist slogans, rampaged through the business district ofLhokseumawe, grabbing anything they could: sacks of rice and bottles of soybean ketchup,boxes of noodles, fans and electrical wiring. Many shops were empty, abandoned by theirowners.

Ninety fugitives, meanwhile, were on the run after crowds stormed a prison Monday inLhokseumawe in the biggest riots since deadly unrest in May helped oust former PresidentSuharto. Mobs burned buildings and stoned military trucks. Even children
looted.

The rioters roamed the streets of Lhokseumawe, in Aceh province on Sumatra island, afternightfall Tuesday. In some areas, soldiers mingled with the looters, apparently willing to letthe mobs vent their anger.

The violence was triggered by bitterness toward the armed forces but ended up targetingIndonesia's Chinese minority, a traditional scapegoat. The Chinese dominate business inIndonesia, which is struggling through its worst economic crisis in three decades.

The unrest erupted after more than 660 Indonesian soldiers left Aceh on Monday in aconciliatory gesture by the military, which is accused of atrocities during a campaign againstIslamic separatist rebels in the province. As they pulled out, some spectators pelted theirvehicles with stones.

Two people died when security forces fired at young men who were hurling rocks, saidresidents who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Police Maj. Amrin Remico said a 14-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man died. But he did notconfirm that police shot them.

Carrying the bodies of the victims on stretchers Tuesday, angry mourners marched to thelocal government building and tore down the gates.

Some rioters shouted ``Free Aceh!'' A few demonstrators unfurled a rebel banner when they raided the prison.

Some Chinese shopkeepers cowered inside their shuttered stores as rioters pounded the doors,walls and windows with a hail of stones.

``I'm scared. But there are police and soldiers in front of the shop,'' David Liong said bytelephone from his gold jewelry shop. His terrified family and other Chinese fled Lhokseumawe in cars earlier in the day for a six-hour drive to the city of Medan.

Police briefly detained at least 50 looters and confiscated their booty, which included tires,soap and shampoo.

On Monday, rioters in Lhokseumawe burned a hotel, a discotheque, beauty salons, a rulingparty office and part of a shopping center. Many Chinese-owned stores were pelted with rocksand looters plundered rice, sugar and other basic necessities.

Fears have been mounting that despite democratic reforms, the strain that Indonesia'seconomic crisis is putting on millions of poor people could lead to bigger riots. [AP]