Myanmar mob burns buildings in Muslim area

Witnesses said on Saturday that more than 70 police were just standing by and watching as a Buddhist mob set fire to a school and other buildings in a Muslim neighborhood of Mandalay.

The assault took place after the funeral of a Buddhist man in a recent wave of unrest in the city.

Win Naing, a Muslim donor to the school, said other Buddhist rioters were also armed with sticks, metal pipes and even saws.

Ye Htut from the Myanmar regional police office later claimed that security forces did not try to stop the Buddhist extremists as they thought the mobs were merely attending the funeral and not an attack.

On July 2, an assault by Buddhist monks on Muslims left two people dead and wounded 14 others in Mandalay.

Violence by extremist Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims has killed hundreds of them and forced many more to flee the country.

Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar account for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million. They have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country’s independence in 1948.

The UN recognizes the Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as one of the world’s most persecuted communities.

The Myanmar government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims. International bodies and human rights organizations accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the violence.

HK