[Myanmar] 4 Killed, 24 Injured As Buddhists And Muslims Clash In Central Burma

[News_Editor]

Burmese police arrive in Arakan State’s Sittwe Township on June 10, 2012, to quell inter-communal violence between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON—Four people died and 24 were seriously injured on Wednesday after communal violence erupted between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, a town in central Burma, according to local police and residents.

They said that hundreds of people had clashed in the streets and several buildings, including two mosques, were destroyed. The situation remained tense on Thursday morning and hundreds of people have reportedly fled the town.

In Meikhtila, a town located some 152 km south of Mandalay, a dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and a Buddhist customer reportedly turned violent early Wednesday afternoon.

The fight attracted a large crowd and a brawl ensued involving about 200 people, who went on to destroy six shops around 2 pm, according to a report placed on the Burmese police’s Facebook page last night.

Police officers were deployed, but violence erupted again Wednesday evening and rioters destroyed and burned several buildings, including nearby mosques, the report said.

Meikhtila District Police Chief Win Htein said early Thursday afternoon that four people had died during the clashes and 24 people were seriously injured.

He said opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had contacted local authorities, telling them to quell the violence as soon as possible. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged the Mandalay Police Chief to take serious action as they’ve imposed a curfew. She said: ‘Don’t sit by and look at it. Act in accordance with the law,’†according to Win Htein.

An officer from Meikhtila’s Police Station No.3 also confirmed some of the events in a phone call with The Irrawaddy on Thursday morning.

“Two mosques and an Islamic religious school nearby were destroyed. A Buddhist monk and another man succumbed to their injuries at the hospital around 11 pm yesterday,†he said, without explaining how the two had been injured.

“Now we’ve imposed a curfew and everything is under control,†the officer added.

A local resident said that despite the curfew and the deployment of police, the situation in Meikhtila remained unstable and tensions were mounting. He said some 1,000 people had gathered on Thursday morning to besiege the town’s See Khun Gyi quarter, where many Muslims live.

The resident, who declined to be named, said both Burmese and Muslim residents feared the violence might spread through the town, adding that several hundred people had fled Meikhtila.

“We have to take away the children and women to some distant villages. We are extremely frightened now, so we are running out of the town,†said the Burmese man.

Leaders of the activist group the 88 Generation Students traveled to the town in order to find a way to quell the communal unrest.

Min Ko Naing, one of the group’s leaders, said in a statement that they are worried that religious and racial riots will spread to other parts of the country, as some people might seize on the incident to attempt to further inflame the communal conflict.

Min Ko Naing said local authorities should protect properties from the rioters and should not just stand by and watch the riots unfold. “As there are human beings, there are problems. It is better to solve this conflict within the law,†he added.

According to Min Ko Naing, 10 people were being treated at the public hospital in Meikhtila Township for injuries sustained during the riots.

The incident is the latest flare-up of inter-communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma. Since June 2012 there have been recurrent waves of violence between ethnic Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Burma’s Arakan State, which have killed 180 people and displaced 110,000 villagers, mostly Rohingyas.

In recent months there have been several reports of inter-communal clashes in other parts of Burma, but no one was reportedly killed in during these incidents.

Source: Irrawaddy.org