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AT LEAST 10 people have been killed in riots in central Myanmar, a member of parliament said today, prompting international concern at the country’s worst communal unrest since a wave of Buddhist-Muslim clashes last year.
Huge plumes of black smoke were seen rising above the town of Meiktila after buildings were set ablaze in a second day of fighting in the previously peaceful area, where a night-time curfew was imposed.
Several mosques were reported to have been torched.
The United States said it was “deeply concerned” by the unrest, which according to police erupted yesterday after an argument in a Muslim-owned gold shop intensified and caused about 200 people to fight in the streets.
Win Htein, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy party, said he had seen bodies at the scene of fresh clashes today.
“More than 10 people were killed,” he told AFP from the town, which is his constituency seat.
The unrest comes at a time of heightened tensions between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar.
Communal conflict in a different region, the western state of Rakhine, left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced last year, overshadowing international optimism about the country’s widely praised political reforms since the end of military rule two years ago.
A senior US State Department official told AFP that its ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, had raised concerns about the situation with top Myanmar government officials.
“The embassy is also in touch with community leaders. We will continue to encourage public efforts to call for calm and foster dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect,” the official said, asking not to be named.
UN resident coordinator Ashok Nigam called for all parties involved “to exercise the utmost tolerance and restraint within their communities”.
A local resident, who asked not to be named, said he had seen “many dead bodies”, adding: “The situation is getting worse. The police cannot control the people.”
Houses on fire
An AFP photographer saw three burned bodies and houses on fire.
“We’re scared. We keep the women and children at a safer building close to the police station,” another local resident said.
Police said several mosques were destroyed and a Buddhist monk was among two killed on Wednesday, but they did not give an updated toll for Thursday.
The local hospital said it had attended to five dead and 25 wounded.
“Two died from burn injuries and the other three were killed because of wounds sustained from knives and sticks,” a hospital official said, asking not to be named.
Ko Ko Gyi, a member of the 88 Generation political activist group, who travelled to Meiktila on Wednesday, said people from both communities were fleeing their homes for fear of being attacked.
Myanmar’s Muslims – largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent — account for an estimated four percent of the roughly 60 million population, although the country has not conducted a census in three decades.
Muslims entered Buddhist-majority Myanmar en masse as indentured labourers from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule, which ended in 1948, but despite their long history they have never been fully integrated.
Sectarian unrest has occasionally broken out in the past in some areas across the country, with Rakhine state a flashpoint for the tensions.
Since violence broke out there last year, thousands of Muslim Rohingya – including a growing number of women and children — have fled the conflict in rickety boats, many heading for Malaysia.
Win Htein said there were around 30,000 Muslims in Meiktila out of a total population of around 80,000 but that no similar clashes had happened in his lifetime.
“I think it is a consequence of what happened in Rakhine state last year,” he added.
The UN Human Rights Council today passed a resolution calling on the Myanmar government to launch an independent investigation into reports of human rights violations, also lamenting “persisting inter-communal tensions”.
There seems to be a common theme to this story. Re: Thailand, Indonesia, The Philippines, India and Half of the African continent. And what is that theme I hear you ask. Radical Islam. There seems to be a sectarian conflict where ever it rears its head.
Or religion full stop
A lot of Africa is actually Christian! Also, all religions are violent! Islam has the most vocal critics but Catholicism has bred, among other things, the crusades, the inquisition, multiple cases of child rape and could be indirectly seen as a factor in the spread of aids and other stds in Africa! The fact is all religions have a negative effect on society depending on how its looked at.
You can’t pick and choose which religion is crazy as they’re all nuts. And while my comment is anti religious this is simply my opinion. I have no issue with others believing, but don’t criticise one specific one when they’ve all been responsible for horrendous things.
And yes, before people start red thumbing, I know religion has done some good, but in my opinion that bad severely outweighs the good
The inquisition finished son time ago Matthew. Micks point is relative to an ideology that supports Fgm, honour killings, decapitations, suicide bombings, acid attacks erc
Buddhists aren’t even violent.
Yh allegedly. Though immolation is a violent act. Albeit directed at oneself.
The Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka might disagree with that.
The few Tamils that remain Kevin
”Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism” – Einstein.
”All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether” Dalai Lama.
Just saying. Don’t shoot the messenger.
I sometimes wonder would we all be better off without religion?
We’d probably just find some other difference to fight over..
Why should we need religion? Just talk to God directly if you believe ..
They are Buddhists just like Ireland is Catholic. They are born into the religion – doesn’t mean they follow it to any great degree .
People are violent and territorial, religion is just a tool to manipulate and create tribes. We’re all just animals when it comes down to it
Religion has caused the deaths of so many people since someone invented this scam.
A scam it is, religions all over are very similar, son, virgin mother and most have 12 disciples( not all called disciples but 12 is consistent) this was taken from the Egyptian era, where they worshiped the sun( this was manipulated to the son of god) there are 12 cycles around the sun and this is where the 12 disciples come from. The aligning of the stars is the 3 stars aligned with the one bright star, manipulated to the three wise men. We are moving into a new age of the sun. This is where the famous end of the world came from, it actually used to say the end of aeon, which was the end of the age, we are moving into a new age. How is it that so many religions have so much in comment and are all related back to the Egyptians worship of the sun. I believed in God not the Catholic Church all my life. Have done alot of studying of history and I believe that religion was man made to control and manipulate. Look what religion has done, divide and conquer and it has structure the way people think and act and the way they view other people. Big scam from the get go I think.
@ Patrick C. Devaney – All religions are violent to some degree, for they are all based on a need to prevent any form of criticism, so when people become critical of Buddhism, for whatever reason, Buddhists can react violently to suppress criticism.
Firstly Buddhism is not a religion and secondly buddhists welcome critical thinking -to my understanding.
Buddhism is a religion! Its recognised as one of the 5 major religions along with Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism.
there’s multiculturalism at work. stick two groups of people with diametrically opposed views in the one country and watch as they integrate by killing each other
Religion is nothing but a tool of ignorance.
Tribal ignorance the most dangerous thing this earth has ever endured, sadly the muslim world and their ignorance is multiplying, and yet for a fleeting moment I thought we might just rid this world of the suffocating claws of the evil that is religion and particularly Islam.
Secular societies been infested with pure and utter ignorance, I despair for my children’s future, I won’t be around to see it but it seems ignorance will eventually prevail over my dream of a whole wide world of secularism, sadly it will never happen, too many liberal lefties given pure evil a foothold, they’ve more than a foothold now, so who is going to stop them?.
The left will wake up when its all too late!.
I live in Myanmar, it’s a shame the country is getting such bad publicity. A lot of the country is open for tourists and it’s the safest pleace I have ever been to.
I was in Myanmar just two weeks ago and I wholeheartedly agree: it is unbelievably safe and the people are so friendly. The people would go out of their way to make sure everything ran smoothly and that you were enjoying yourself. I could walk around Yangon anytime and never feel threatened. It’s a spectacular place and I adore it.
Although, in saying that, I did notice palpable tension between Muslims and, well, everyone else, whether they be Buddhist, Hindu etc. They’re widely despised, especially by the youth. While I was there I heard of uproar all over social networking sites, whereby young adults, Muslim and Buddhist, were throwing around a lot of threats.
As pointed out in the article, this is no isolated incident (the turmoil in the Rakhine state) and the country is also involved in internecine conflict in a number of its own states, particularly the Shan and Kachin states where rebels are fighting, albeit intermittently, for a degree of autonomy for their people. I hope the situation doesn’t devolve any further, as its a great place full of interesting people and it’s sad to see them endure this.
Also, I met some nice lads from Trocaire whilst over there who are aiming to help some of the displaced people. Wonderful work.
Howdy, neighbour – also in Yangon – what you say is true, but there are almost a quarter of a million people displaced between Kachin and Rakhine, and there is a lot of communal strife. We’re living in a bit of a powder keg.
Isn’t religion wonderful.
http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/national/2863-curfew-imposed-to-prevent-religious-riot-mandalay-region-town more news today from the country…
oh, you mean Burma?
You think drawings can provoke outrage? This will be worse. Good luck Myanmar.
What I was trying to say was that it is a big country, but you only hear news about it when something bad happens and it may put potential travellers off coming here. There are parts of Rakhine state that are vefy safe (Ngapali Beach), and just because there are riots in some part of the country it is not a fair representation of the country’s general safety, which, in my opinion, is very high.
Yeah, it’s a beautiful place with beautiful people, but it is also a very troubled place – at least in many parts of the country.
U beat me to it
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