Indonesia toll hits 14 in weekend violence

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Rescue workers pulled eight bodies Monday from the rubble of a gambling parlor burned by Muslim mobs, raising the death toll from a weekend of ethnic and religious violence to 14.

Many Christian schools were closed after riots Sunday in which mobs of Muslim youths set fire to churches and attacked Christians. Soldiers patrolled riot-hit areas Monday in north Jakarta, but there were no new reports of unrest.Security forces detained 179 people during the weekend riots, police spokesman Togar Sianipar said. Monday in Jakarta, about 100 students staged two peaceful protests against the government.

The weekend violence came amid Indonesia's worst economic crisis in 30 years. Millions of people now live in poverty as inflation and unemployment rates soar.

President B.J. Habibie, at the center of student protests over his plans to change Indonesia's political system, blamed unidentified agitators for the violence and urged restraint.

"I call on the people not to be easily provoked to take actions to serve the purpose of a certain group that wants to disintegrate the nation," Habibie said.

The president has been under pressure to speed up his reform program since former authoritarian leader Suharto resigned in May. Opponents say Habibie, once a protege of Suharto, is not serious about introducing true democracy.

Suharto was told on Monday he faced house arrest if he does not cooperate with a planned new probe into his wealth.

The eight latest victims died from burns or smoke inhalation, said Edward Bachtiar, an official of the Indonesian Red Cross.

Two were ethnic Chinese, a minority that is often targeted during social strife in Indonesia partly because they dominate trade and commerce in the country. Also, most Chinese in overwhelmingly Muslim Indonesia are Christian or Buddhist.

A prominent Muslim leader said thugs had carefully planned the riots, the official Antara news agency reported.