INDONESIA: JAKARTA: RIOTING & LOOTING CONTINUES FOR 3RD DAY

Описание: (14 May 1998) Natural Sound

A senior Indonesian official says President Suharto has no plans to resign.

Newspapers in Indonesia reported Suharto was willing to quit if the people no longer trusted him.

But a high ranking official travelling with the president in Cairo said his remarks were an oblique way of expressing anger about the situation in his country.

Suharto cut the trip short to return to Jakarta as thousands of looters burned shops and houses in a third day of rioting in the capital.

Police and the army have been protecting government property but have done little to stop the looters going on the rampage elsewhere.

It could be a war zone - Jakarta is a city out of control.

Hours after newspapers carried front-page stories saying that President Suharto was considering resigning, looters went on the rampage.

They attacked a four kilometre (2.5-mile) stretch of the city's main boulevard, Jalan Gadja Mada.

Shops, houses and cars were torched and looters made the most of the chaos.

As shops burned around them, people took what they want.

It's the third day of rioting in the capital and while the police have been clashing with protestors to stop their demonstrations, they've done little to stop the looters.

They are only guarding government property - the rest of the city is in the hands of the mob.

Car showrooms proved to be a particularly satisfactory target for the looters.

Windows were smashed, a van was stolen only to be trashed outside the shop.

These scenes were repeated across the city.

Political reform, a key demand of campus activists, was far from the minds of many looters.

The rioting was more a spontaneous backlash against rising food prices as well as the rollback of subsidies last week on fuel, transport and electricity.

There were unconfirmed reports that about a dozen people were missing or killed after homes, shops, cars and offices were ransacked and torched.

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