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Hundreds of Buddhists on motorcycles armed with sticks patrol in the streets of in Lashio, northern Shan State, Myanmar, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. (AP) |
LASHIO, Myanmar : Thousands of Muslims who fled Myanmar's latest bout of ethnic
violence huddled Thursday in a Buddhist
monastery guarded by army soldiers as calm returned to this northeastern city,
though burnt out buildings leveled by Buddhist rioters still smoldered.
The army transported terrified Muslim families by the truckload out of a
neighborhood in Lashio where overturned cars and motorcycles that had been
charred a day earlier left black scars on the red earth.
"We heard things could get worse, so we waved down soldiers and asked
them for help," said 59-year-old Khin Than, who arrived at the monastery
Thursday morning with her four children and sacks of luggage along with several
hundred other Muslims. "We left because we're afraid of being
attacked."
The violence in Lashio this week highlights how anti-Muslim unrest has
slowly spread across Myanmar since starting last year in western Rakhine state
and hitting the central city of Meikhtila in March. President Thein Shen’s government,
which inherited power from the military two years ago, has been heavily
criticized for failing to contain the violence.
Buddhist rioters and terrorists could still be seen Thursday riding
motorbikes with weapons and sticks. Several hundred shops and houses owned by Muslims
were brunt and destroyed by these Buddhist Terrorists. Trucks of soldiers and
police crisscrossed main roads. They guarded the ruins of Muslim businesses
that were reduced to ashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, erecting roadblocks from
twisted debris reported by AP.
At one corner, where the charred remains of a three-story building still
smoldered, Muslim residents sorted through rubble for anything salvageable. One
family packed electronics from their shop into the back of a truck.
A woman who had fled a mob a day earlier was still in a state of shock.
"These things should not happen," said the woman, Aye Tin, a
Muslim resident who slept overnight in a local Red Cross compound. "Most
Muslims are staying off the streets. They're afraid they'll be attacked or
killed if they go outside."
The rioting began Tuesday after a Muslim man splashed gasoline on a Buddhist
woman and set her on fire. Buddhist mobs responded by burning down several
Muslim-owned shops, a mosque and an Islamic orphanage. Roving motorcyclists
continued the violence on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and four injured.
(AP)
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