Troops stop students

Indonesian riots—

ASPB

Hundreds of Indonesian students and youths ran wild in their bid to retaliate against antiGovernment demonstrations in the Chinese residential areas. Troops and police opened fire in the night of April 22 on a group of young Indonesians to stop them from marching to the Chinatown district and attacking Chinese homes.

Chinese houses and shops in Harbourtown in south-east Java were set on fire. Charred bits of furniture and goods were strewn over the streets. No casualties were reported.

Youths armed with crowbars, bicycle chains and Molotov cocktails marched to the Chinese Embassy for retaliatory action against the Chinese merchants who staged an earlier anti-Government demonstration. Troops prevented them from forcing their way into it. The demonstrators were forced out of Chinatown at gunpoint.

According to a report published in the Bangkok Post, the violent mob smashed more than five cars and had beaten the Chinese inside senseless. They made no distinction between Chinese who might be Communists and those whose families have lived in Indonesia for centuries.