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Indonesian city calm after two days of race riots
Once violence ended, 5 people had died
September 17, 1997
Web posted at: 10:33 a.m. EDT (1433 GMT)UJUNG PANDANG, Indonesia (CNN) -- Streets in the city of Ujung Pandang were quiet Wednesday, after security forces managed to quell two days of anti-Chinese rioting, a human rights group said.
Schools, shops and offices were closed in the provincial capital, about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) northeast of the national capital, Jakarta.
"It has calmed down. But some people are gathering in some areas," said Matinawang, the chairman of the city's independent Legal Aid Foundation.
Unconfirmed reports said small groups of Muslim teen-agers continued to throw rocks at Chinese-owned houses Wednesday morning.
Several thousand people rioted Monday and Tuesday, burning and stoning Chinese homes and stores, after an ethnic Chinese man -- whom doctors had diagnosed earlier as mentally ill -- allegedly attacked two Muslim girls with a long knife as they walked home from religion class.
Matinawang said a 9-year-old died immediately. Her 19-year- old aunt, earlier reported to be her sister, died of stab wounds later in a nearby hospital.
The rioters caught and severely beat the girls' alleged attacker, who later died at a hospital.
A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said security forces were monitoring a protest Wednesday by hundreds of students at an Islamic college where the father of one of the dead girls is a professor.
Two people died during the protests. One of the victims, a Chinese man in his 70s, had a heart attack when an angry mob attacked his home. Details of the other death were not immediately available.
Chinese property damaged
Chinese are a minority among Indonesia's 200 million people. Many traditionally work as traders or store owners and are sometimes victimized by other ethnic groups.
The army called for calm and said people should not vent their anger against Chinese people, because the girls were murdered by an insane man.
"It's not the murder of a Muslim by a non-Muslim," the Jakarta Post quoted regional military commander Maj. Gen. Agum Gumelar as saying.
RCTI television reported that at least 291 Chinese-owned stores and restaurants were damaged. Some were looted and set afire.
About 30 cars were smashed and 15 others were burned. About 60 motorcycles were damaged. Residents said scores of police and troops patrolled the streets at the height of the violence, but their numbers had decreased by Wednesday morning.
Police arrested 79 people Monday and Tuesday. Twenty-two remained in custody Wednesday and were expected to be charged with looting and vandalism.
Ujung Pandang is the capital of South Sulawesi province and has a population of 750,000.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related sites:
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- Indonesia Times Online - English language daily.
- Indonesia Internet Information Center - starting point for information about Indonesia
- DKI Jakarta - official Web site of the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia
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