MUZI - Lateline News

HONG KONG - More than 2,000 people took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against recent atrocities against ethnic Chinese in Indonesia.

``We strongly demand the Indonesian government respect human rights,'' shouted the banner-waving demonstrators, most of whom were Indonesian Chinese living in the territory.

``Stop the violence! Punish the perpetrators,'' they yelled as the march made its way in searing heat to the Indonesian consulate, where eggs were hurled at the door of the building.

Indonesia's ethnic Chinese population, long resented for its prosperity, became the target of mob anger during the May riots, which included looting, arson and systematic rape, human rights groups have said.

About 1,200 people were killed in the riots, and more than 150 women were raped, they say.

The worst unrest occurred in Jakarta, where thousands of shops and buildings in the city's Chinatown district were destroyed.

``I went to see my relatives and I went to see part of where I used to live. All the shops in that streets were razed to the ground. I think all Chinese in the world must unite,'' said Amy Fung, a 55-year old woman who had just returned from Jakarta.

The riots have sparked fury among the half a million overseas Chinese in Hong Kong, 300,000 of whom are Indonesian nationals.

``There was an 11-year-old ethnic Chinese girl whose home was looted and the gangs then raped her,'' one woman, who would only identify herself as Madam Lim, told a rally before the march.

``They stripped and raped her and then pushed a metal rod into her,'' said Lim, adding the girl subsequently died in hospital.

Other relatives and friends of victims of the May 13-15 riots recounted tales of horror, as many in the crowd broke down and cried uncontrollably.

Overseas Chinese in the territory fear the atrocities may be repeated after reports that flyers have been circulating this week in Bandung, Java, calling for further violence against Chinese.

The protesters, who jammed the tiny street in front of the Indonesian consulate, roared and booed when they saw a group of Indonesians huddled behind closed windows on an upper floor of the consulate building, which was closed.

A consulate representative later came out to receive a petition letter from the crowd, which then dispersed peacefully.

There are rumours that violence could be repeated on July 27 - the second anniversary of a raid by party rivals backed by police and troops on PDI headquarters in Jakarta to evict supporters of opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri - and on August 17, Indonesia's Independence Day.

One demonstrator, Zhang Ruiyuan, said ethnic Chinese in Indonesian cities such as Surabaya and Bandung have been threatened with violence if they related their stories to the authorities or to the press.

Zhang is a member of the Hong Kong Overseas Chinese General Association, which organised the protest together with the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong.

The association has written to Indonesian President B.J. Habibie and U.S. President Bill Clinton urging them to prevent further violence. Hong Kong legislator and leading democrat Martin Lee has also appealed to the presidents to ensure Jakarta repudiates the racism that sparked the May violence. [Reuters]