The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/ Monday, January 4, 1999 INDONESIA Death in police custody sparks riot By HARRY RETNOWATI in Surabaya Hundreds of knife-wielding locals ran amok in this, Indonesia's second city, torching a police station and shops after a man died in police custody, police said yesterday. A mob of about 800 attacked and set fire to the police station on Saturday night in Surabaya, 640 kilometres east of Jakarta, after police handed the man's body to his family. He had been accused of breaking into shops. Police denied he had been tortured. Witnesses said crowds had also torched three shops in the upper-class residential complex of Citra Raya before heading to the police station. The complex director said: "They came out of nowhere in trucks and torched three shops in the residential complex. Many of the residents stayed in the hotel due to fear." There has been a long-running dispute between Citra Raya and locals over compensation since the real estate company developed the area 20 years ago. Indonesia has been plagued by spiralling unrest and crime over the past year as a crippling economic crisis pushes millions into poverty amid persistent political instability. Much of the violence has been motivated by ethnic or religious conflict, with Muslim-Christian unrest erupting in several parts of Indonesia in recent months. In Jakarta on Saturday, a bomb explosion wrecked the ground floor of a vacant shop and damaged several nearby buildings. Two other explosive devices were found nearby but failed to go off. The motive was unknown, although some locals said a land dispute might be involved. The blast was the third mysterious explosion in Jakarta in recent months. Looting, religious unrest and arson attacks broke out in scattered areas of Indonesia during new year celebrations, leading to almost 80 arrests on the main island of Java. On the island of Sulawesi, an angry mob set fire to a supermarket in a remote district on Friday after rumours its Christian owner had offended Muslims by misusing a prayer mat. In Aceh province, five people were killed yesterday when thousands of villagers set fire to a police station after military raids against separatists. The North Aceh deputy police chief, Major Amrin Remico, said 15 other people had been injured. He declined to say whether the five people killed were shot by police. "We are still investigating the incident." "I can not yet make the conclusion that the attack was related to the military raid earlier this morning," Major Remico added. - Reuters, Agence France-Presse end ============== Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html The Year 2000 Bug - An Urgent Sustainability Issue http://www.peg.apc.org/~psutton/grin-y2k.htm
