Rape case sparks anti-Muslim riot in Sagaing
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Homes, shops sacked as man held in attack on Buddhist woman
Anti-Muslim rioters burned shops and homes in a fresh outbreak of communal unrest in western Myanmar, police said yesterday, as the former army-ruled nation grapples with destabilising religious violence.
Some 38 houses, nine businesses and a rice mill were torched during the unrest on Saturday night, which erupted after a Muslim man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to rape a Buddhist woman in a village at Kanbalu in the central region of Sagaing, according to a regional police official.
A large mob of residents from Htankone administrative unit – put at 150 by an official yesterday but much larger by others who spoke to an Eleven reporter – gathered in front of the local police station and demanded the culprit to be turned over to them.
When police refused the mob started setting buildings on fire in Htankone Village around 9pm.
About 50 police tried to control the situation and the Minister of Border and Security of the Sagaing regional government also rushed to the village.
Fire trucks from nearby townships also arrived to extinguish the fire, according to reporter from Daily Eleven who arrived at Htankone Village.
“I didn’t see any head-on clashes between groups, but the fire that has been blazing since 9pm still has not been extinguished – four hours later,” the reporter said early yesterday.
“I learnt that the person who was accused of attempted rape has now arrived at Kanbalu Police Station. The local residents are worried about riots as there are many Muslims in Kanbalu area,” the reporter said.
Several episodes of religious unrest – mostly targeting Muslims – have exposed deep rifts in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, casting a shadow over widely praised political reforms since military rule ended two years ago.
Rights groups have accused authorities of being unable or unwilling to contain the violence, which has left around 250 people dead and over 140,000 homeless. Myanmar has rejected the claims.
Last week watchdog Physicians for Human Rights said Myanmar risked “catastrophic” levels of conflict with “potential crimes against humanity and/or genocide” if authorities failed to stem anti-Muslim hate speech and a culture of impunity around the clashes.
Many of the incidents have featured widespread retaliatory violence against Muslim communities in response to accusations of seemingly isolated criminal acts.
In the latest clash, the official said the suspect allegedly approached a 25-year-old woman, “grabbed her hand and attempted to rape her”.
Radical Buddhist monk Wirathu, whose anti-Muslim and nationalist speeches have been accused of stoking the unrest, posted a message about the incident on his Facebook page.
Using term ‘kalar’ – a highly derogatory word – he blamed Muslims in general for the unrest.
“Kalars are troublemakers. When a kalar is there, the problem will be there. If every time kalar made trouble and people response in violent ways, both Buddhists and Buddhism will be harmed,” he said.
Two outbreaks of conflict in the western state of Rakhine in June and October last year left around 200 people dead, mainly Rohingya Muslims seen by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
