Curfew restores peace in Burma’s Mandalay

MUSLIMS in Burma’s second-largest city said morning prayers in peace yesterday after a curfew restored calm following two nights of violent rampages by extremist Buddhists.
Myanmar police force are deployed on the streets of Mandalay in central Myanmar. Picture: GettyMyanmar police force are deployed on the streets of Mandalay in central Myanmar. Picture: Getty
Myanmar police force are deployed on the streets of Mandalay in central Myanmar. Picture: Getty

Authorities imposed the curfew in Mandalay on Thursday night after attacks on minority Muslims left two people dead and 14 injured.

The killings raising fears that ethnic violence that has plagued the country for two years could escalate again.

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The Mandalay regional government posted details of the attacks on its website, identifying the fatalities and noting that a group of 50 people, including 20 Buddhist monks, took part. Chief minister Ye Myint said four people were arrested.

Muslim-owned shops reopened in areas where Buddhist mobs on motorbikes had driven through the streets wielding sticks and hurling stones.

Some residents questioned why the government waited two days to clamp down on the mobs, who damaged at least one mosque, shops and torched cars.

“If authorities had taken prompt and immediate action, deaths and damage could have been prevented,” said A Mar Ni, a member of a citizens’ conflict prevention committee.

Burma, a predominantly Buddhist nation, has been grappling with violence since 2012 that has left up to 280 people dead and 140,000 homeless, most of them Muslims attacked by Buddhist militants. Most of it has taken place in western Rakhine state.

This week’s unrest was the first in Mandalay, an important centre of Buddhist culture and learning where Muslims and Buddhists have traditionally lived peacefully together. In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the opposition National League for Democracy, said the violence in Mandalay could 
escalate if authorities do not take strong measures.

“Unless the authorities seriously maintain the rule of law, violence will grow,” she said. Inflammatory material posted on social media had contributed to the instability, she said, a viewpoint shared by Mandalay police chief Zaw Win Aung.

In a radio address, president Thein Sein called for stability as the country moves to democracy from half a century of military rule, but did not mention Mandalay specifically.

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The latest unrest followed rumours that the Muslim owner of a tea shop had raped a Buddhist woman, said Khin Maung Oo, secretary of the city’s Myanmar Muslim Youth Religious Convention Centre. A ministry statement said the owner had been charged with rape.

Authorities deployed hundreds of police on Tuesday after more than 300 Buddhists marched to the tea shop, singing the national anthem. Police fired rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowd, but failed to control groups that scattered into the streets, throwing stones at a mosque while others ransacked Muslim-owned shops. Several cars were set on fire or had windows shattered by stones and bricks.

Muslims account for about 4 per cent of Burma’s roughly 60 million people.

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