Yangon - Myanmar police shot dead seven
demonstrators and 12 were injured in troubled Rakhine State,
after a local gathering celebrating an ancient Buddhist Arakan
kingdom turned violent.
The demonstrators gathered late on Tuesday in Mrauk U
township in the northern part of Rakhine to mark the end of the
Arakan kingdom, the secretary of the Rakhine state government,
Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters.
The violent demonstration underscores the challenges facing
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a country where dozens of
ethnic groups have been clamouring for autonomy since
independence from Britain in 1947.
Some 4 000 people surrounded a government building after
the annual ceremony marking the demise of the Arakan kingdom
over 200 years ago, Tin Maung Swe said. Organizers did not seek
approval from local authorities for the gathering, he said.
"The police used rubber bullets initially but the crowd
didn't leave. Finally the security members had to shoot. The
conflict happened when some people tried to seize guns from the
police," he said.
Tun Ther Sein, regional MP from Mrauk U, said some of the
critically injured protesters were taken to the state capital of
Sittwe, a three-hour drive south of the ancient town studded
with Buddhist temples.
The Rakhine, also known as Arakanese, are one of the 135
officially recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar. Their identity
is closely connected to the once powerful Arakanese kingdom
along the Andaman Sea, which was conquored by the Burmese
kingdom in 1784. The kingdom was once an important stop on the
old silk trade route.
Tensions in Rakhine have risen since a sweeping Myanmar army
operation in August inflamed communal tension and triggered an
exodus of over 650 000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh.