By Joshua Carroll
YANGON, Myanmar
A night-time curfew has been lifted in Myanmar’s second largest city of Mandalay, five weeks after religious riots there left a Buddhist and a Muslim dead and 17 people injured.
Authorities told local media Monday that the situation was “calm,” adding that the curfew would be lifted in all of Mandalay’s seven townships with immediate effect.
The rioting on July 1 is the latest outbreak of unrest in the majority Buddhist country, where bouts of anti-Muslim violence have become a chronic problem for the reformist government of President Thein Sein.
Hundreds have been arrested and sentenced to up to two weeks in prison for breaching the curfew.
Last month’s killings mark the first time the unrest - which has left up to 280 people dead and around 140,000 displaced since beginning in June 2012 - has spread to a major city.
Angry mobs formed outside a Mandalay teashop following online rumors – since proven false – that two of the shop’s Muslim owners had raped a Buddhist woman.
Violence raged for two nights as mobs damaged cars and houses. On the third night, a dusk till dawn curfew was imposed and security forces stood guard on the streets.
The following day, the uneasy calm was broken as a group of Buddhists set fires in the Muslim section of a cemetery during the funeral for the Buddhist man killed in the riots.
The city has since been stable. Authorities have arrested dozens suspected of involvement in the riots and last month shortened the curfew to 10pm-3am.
A Mandalay police officer told The Irrawaddy new website that suspects for the two murder cases were being held in custody, but said they were unable to give further details.
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