Security boosted in Myanmar village after mosque attack

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

More police were deployed Saturday to guard a southern Myanmar village where a mob destroyed Muslim landmarks and attacked a Muslim man following an argument over the construction of a religious school.

After the rioting Thursday evening, police had exerted efforts to restore order in Tha Yel Tha Mein village in Bago region -- aware that similar incidents between Muslims and Buddhists in the country's recent past have led to the death and displacement of hundreds of people.

Muslim villagers, however, remained uneasy about the possibility of more riots as rumors spread in Tha Yel Tha Mein, located around 150 kilometers (93 miles) northwest of commercial capital Yangon.

Waw Township’s police chief, Ohn Lwin, told Anadolu Agency by phone Saturday, “about 20 villagers ran inside the police outpost late Friday evening in fear of mobs again.”

He said there had been no more violence since the rioting Thursday left a Muslim man injured and a mosque, a religious school and a Muslim cemetery destroyed in the village, where just 50 of the 1,029 households are Muslim.

“However we deployed more police here to make Muslim villagers feel safe staying at their homes,” he underlined.

“More than 100 police are guarding the village, and there is no sign of riot again.”

The violence is understood to have started Thursday evening after an argument between Muslim resident Abdul Sharif and two female Buddhist neighbors. Before police could remove Sharif for his own safety, he had been attacked by a villager, according to local police.

Ohn Lwin said that village elders and monks were unable to control what soon turned into a volatile situation.

Before additional security could arrive, a rampaging mob destroyed a mosque, a religious school in the mosque compound and a building under construction that local Buddhists saw as an unauthorized Islamic school.

In June 2012, communal tensions between Buddhists and Muslims saw violence engulf parts of western Rakhine State

The violence left 200 dead and displaced thousands, and eventually spread to other areas of the country such as Mandalay.

A local Muslim resident Khin Oo -- a member of the mosque's caretaker committee -- told Anadolu Agency on Saturday that police are doing well to guard the village.

“However most of us are still fearful of riots because this is the very first time we saw such an incident in the village’s history,” Khin Oo, 72, said by phone from Tha Yel Tha Mein.

“It will take time for us to feel safe here,” he stressed. “We feel the village is broken and we will never forget that day.”