2,000 workers face unemployment

BOGOR (JP): More than 2,000 workers face unemployment after 13 hotels and amusement centers here were burned and destroyed by angry mobs on Wednesday evening, Deputy Bogor regent Nana Suryana said.

"More than 2,000 employees of 13 hotels and amusement centers here will be unemployed as owners of these businesses do not have the money to renovate or reconstruct the buildings in the near future," he said on Saturday.

Though he regretted the mobs' actions, Nana could, however, understand that their violent actions were triggered by the hotel owners' ignorance of the city's regulations and violation of their building permits.

"They (hotel owners), for instance, secured permits to build houses in the area, but changed their functions into amusement centers or brothels," he said.

Dozens of angry rioters destroyed and burned 13 hotels and amusement centers in Cipayung and Cisarua subdistricts, Bogor regency on Wednesday evening, following reports that they had been used as brothels and centers for drug distribution.

Bogor police are still in the dark on the identity of the people who burned and destroyed the hotels and amusement centers in Cipayung and Cisarua.

The 13 hotels and amusement centers were Parama Hotel, Hotel Grafika Mas, Rilex Hotel, Hotel 88, Hotel Fitria, Hotel Kurnia, Gedung 3 amusement center, Wisma Anaria, Pondok Pelangi, Moroseneng female dormitory, Cisarua Theater, Cibeureum Hotel and Hotel Permai.(21/imn)