Mobs Ransack Stores of Ethnic Chinese

Hundreds of ethnic Chinese fled a northern Indonesian town after stone-throwing mobs attacked their shops and homes. Looters, some of them shouting separatist slogans, rampaged through the business district of Lhokseumawe, grabbing anything they could. Many shops were empty, abandoned by their owners. The violence in the restive northern Sumatran region of Aceh was triggered by bitterness toward the armed forces but ended up targeting Indonesia’s Chinese minority, a traditional scapegoat. Fears have been mounting that the strain Indonesia’s economic crisis is putting on the poor could lead to bigger riots.