Buddhist Mobs in Myanmar Attack Aid Workers' Homes
Buddhist-led mobs hurled stones at the offices and homes of international aid workers in Myanmar's western Rakhine state on Thursday, prompting police to evacuate some of the workers from their houses, residents and officials said.
There were no immediate indications that anyone was hurt in the violence, which started Wednesday night in the state capital, Sittwe, and continued Thursday.
It was the first outbreak of violence since January in Rakhine state, where Buddhist ethnic Rakhine mobs have launched a series of bloody attacks in the past two years targeting the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. Up to 280 people have died in the violence, and another 140,000 have had to flee their homes.
Up to 300 people surrounded Malteser International late Wednesday following reports that a woman had removed a Buddhist flag flying in front of the group's office, state spokesman Win Myaing said. The organization, which has provided aid to Muslim victims of the sectarian violence, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Police fired 40 to 50 warning shots to disperse the crowd, Win Myaing said.
The violence continued Thursday, with several hundred people running through a street that houses international aid workers, throwing rocks at homes and damaging several of the residences.
"If police stopped them at one place, the mob moved to a different location and threw stones at (nongovernmental organization) houses," Sittwe resident Aung Than said by phone. "The mob is angry because the NGO staff treated our religious flag with disrespect."
Police escorted aid workers from their homes for safety reasons, Aung Than said.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, only recently emerged from a half-century of military rule. Since then, ethnic tensions have swept Rakhine state, raising concerns from the United States and others that the bloodshed could undermine democratic reforms
Last month, Doctors Without Borders was expelled from the state after being accused by the government of unfairly providing more care to Muslims than to Buddhists and inflaming communal tensions by hiring "Bengalis," the term the government uses for the Rohingya minority.
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