Police in central Burma fired warning shots to disperse a
crowd after a mosque and shops were attacked on Tuesday, the
president’s spokesman said, in the latest religious unrest to hit the
country.
The fighting was sparked in the small town of Oakkan, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Rangoon, after a woman accidentally bumped into a young novice monk and knocked his alms bowl onto the ground, according to Ye Htut.
It is the latest unrest to flare in the region north of Rangoon, Burma’s main city, after a series of attacks by Buddhist mobs on Muslim homes, businesses and mosques in March.
“According to the initial information received by the Myanmar [Burma] Police Force, a mosque and shops nearby were attacked… The police force had to fire warning shots to disperse the crowd,” Ye Htut said in a post on his Facebook page, adding that the situation had been brought under control.
He said some shops were destroyed but no buildings had been burnt.
“There were some attacks to the mosque by throwing with stones. No casualties were reported,” a police official told AFP.
At least 43 people were killed and thousands were left homeless in March in fighting apparently triggered by a quarrel between a Muslim gold shop owner and Buddhist customers in the central town of Meikhtila.
Some monks were involved in the unrest while others are behind a nationalistic campaign calling for a boycott of Muslim-owned shops.
The unrest has exposed deep religious tensions in the formerly junta-run nation and cast a shadow over reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that took power two years ago.
Last year around 200 people were killed in clashes between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya — a minority treated with hostility by many Burmese who see them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
While the Rohingya — described by the UN as among the most-persecuted minorities on the planet — have long been denied Burmese citizenship, the Muslims targeted in March’s unrest are Burmese nationals.
Human Rights Watch last week accused authorities of being involved in “ethnic cleansing” in Arakan — a claim the government denies.
An official report into the unrest this week suggested doubling the security presence in the state and recommended keeping the communities apart as a temporary measure to prevent further violence.
Tags: hrw, meikhtila, muslim, riots, rohingyaThe fighting was sparked in the small town of Oakkan, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Rangoon, after a woman accidentally bumped into a young novice monk and knocked his alms bowl onto the ground, according to Ye Htut.
It is the latest unrest to flare in the region north of Rangoon, Burma’s main city, after a series of attacks by Buddhist mobs on Muslim homes, businesses and mosques in March.
“According to the initial information received by the Myanmar [Burma] Police Force, a mosque and shops nearby were attacked… The police force had to fire warning shots to disperse the crowd,” Ye Htut said in a post on his Facebook page, adding that the situation had been brought under control.
He said some shops were destroyed but no buildings had been burnt.
“There were some attacks to the mosque by throwing with stones. No casualties were reported,” a police official told AFP.
At least 43 people were killed and thousands were left homeless in March in fighting apparently triggered by a quarrel between a Muslim gold shop owner and Buddhist customers in the central town of Meikhtila.
Some monks were involved in the unrest while others are behind a nationalistic campaign calling for a boycott of Muslim-owned shops.
The unrest has exposed deep religious tensions in the formerly junta-run nation and cast a shadow over reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that took power two years ago.
Last year around 200 people were killed in clashes between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya — a minority treated with hostility by many Burmese who see them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
While the Rohingya — described by the UN as among the most-persecuted minorities on the planet — have long been denied Burmese citizenship, the Muslims targeted in March’s unrest are Burmese nationals.
Human Rights Watch last week accused authorities of being involved in “ethnic cleansing” in Arakan — a claim the government denies.
An official report into the unrest this week suggested doubling the security presence in the state and recommended keeping the communities apart as a temporary measure to prevent further violence.
with the blessing of Thein Sen and Suu Kyi.
This atrocities will continue.
We need more UN presence.
We are very much confused why racist Army Monk Wirathu and his followers are not yet arrested . We are also surprised why the master minder of Arakan genocide Dr Aye Maung and all his racist RNDP followers are not yet book for the trail .
The Thien Sein and his ally must take full responsibility for genocide.I’m clearly saying that this is not the war between Buddhist and Islam .This’s Thien Sein government one sided war against the Rohingyas,Muslim and some Ethnics.
The majority respectable Buddhist Monks and peaceful loving Burmese people must resist the Army Regime collaborator Monks and ifs racist followers . We can’t let these racist group go further. Please stand against them .
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