Riot was organised, say locals
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Witnesses say latest sectarian violence was orchestrated
Local residents have voiced suspicions of an organised plot behind the anti-Muslim riots which ravaged Kanbalu and Htan Kone villages, in Sagaing region on Saturday.
Police are investigating accusations made by locals that this fresh outbreak of sectarian violence, which began on August 24 and led to the burning of Muslim houses and shops, was organised.
Authorities said security forces were guarding the mosque in Htan Gone where some of the victims sought refuge late Saturday and early Sunday.
“We spent the whole night cowering at the back of the mosque,” said 70-year-old Daw Tin Shwe, adding that police did not help them. “There was no one there to protect us.”
The predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million has been grappling with sectarian violence since its military rulers handed over power to a nominally civilian government in 2011. More than 250 people have been killed in the last year and another 140,000 displaced, almost all of them Muslims.
Suspicions that the sectarian violence is orchestrated are nothing new, and come in the wake of a nationwide campaign against Muslims led by extremist Buddhist monk Wirathu.
“We have arrested 11 suspects so far. … We are investigating who started the riots. Then, we will inquire into whether there was someone behind the violence,” said Police Colonel Min Aung on Monday.
The riots erupted following rumours of an attempted rape of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim man on Saturday evening. By 7pm an angry mob of over 1,000 people appeared at Htankone Police Station to demand the suspect be handed over, then began setting fire to Muslim houses and shops.
More than 40 Muslim houses and shops were destroyed and 300 people left homeless, among them over 100 children. So far no fatalities have been reported.
Some local residents claimed that a large group of people from neighbouring villages suddenly arrived to swell the rioters’ numbers.
“News [of the alleged attempted rape] broke at around 5pm and within one and a half hours, people from neighbouring villages arrived at our village and started rioting. We think that someone plotted these riots,” said a local, who asked not to be named.
