Mosque destroyed, ethnic tension in Myanmar

Scores of Buddhists ransacked a mosque in central Myanmar forcing Muslims to seek refuge in a police station overnight, officials and residents said Friday, as tensions between the two groups continues to plague the southeast Asian nation.

Bouts of anti-Muslim violence have left scores dead across Myanmar since 2012 and the febrile atmosphere has seen Aung San Suu Kyi’s new government come under pressure to address the country’s secretarian divides. The most recent violence erupted on Thursday afternoon as a mob of around 200 Buddhists rampaged through a Muslim area of a village in Bago province following an argument between neighbours over the building of a Muslim school. “It started when a Muslim man and Buddhist women started to argue and then people came to fight him,” Hla Tint, the village administrator, told AFP.

“Parts of the mosque were destroyed... They also destroyed the fence of the Muslim cemetery,” he added. Around 70 Muslims, including children, sought shelter in a police station overnight on Thursday, he said, adding there were no serious injuries and peace had been restored. But one Muslim resident told AFP his community of around 150 people is now living in fear.

“We had to hide as some people were threatening to kill Muslims. The situation has never been like this before”.