MEIKHTILA, MYANMAR — Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, regaining control after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that killed dozens of people and left scores of buildings in flames in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the country this year.
Myanmar police help Muslim refugees move to a temporary camp near Meikhtila about 550 kilometres north of Yangon,on Friday.(AP Photo)
Truckloads of soldiers could be seen patrolling Meikhtila and taking up positions at intersections and banks as some residents, who had cowered in their homes for days since the mayhem started on Wednesday, began wandering their streets to take in the destruction.
President Thein Sein imposed a state of emergency in the region on Friday in a bid to stop the violence from spreading.
The unrest, the first of its kind reported in Myanmar since a wave bloodshed shook western Rakhine state twice last year, underscored the government's failure to reign in anti-Muslim sentiment in the predominantly Buddhist country, where even leading monks have staged anti-Muslim rallies that critics say have set the stage for further violence.
It was not immediately clear which side bore the brunt of the latest unrest, but terrified Muslims, who make about 30% of Meikhtila's 100,000 inhabitants, stayed off the streets Friday as their shops and homes burned and some angry Buddhist residents and monks tried to stop firefighters from dousing the blazes.
Riot police crisscrossed the town, seizing machetes and hammers from enraged Buddhist mobs.
At least five mosques were torched and thousands of terrified Muslims have fled their homes, escorted to safety by police to two makeshift camps. Some Buddhists, meanwhile, have sought shelter at monasteries.
"Calm has been restored after troops have taken charge of security, said Win Htein, an opposition lawmaker from Meikhtila. "So far, nearly 6,000 Muslim people have been relocated at a stadium and a police station for their safety."
Little appeared to be left of some neighbourhoods, where whole plots were reduced to smouldering masses of twisted debris and ash. Broken glass, destroyed motorcycles and overturned tables littered roads beside rows of burnt-out homes and shops, evidence of the widespread chaos of the last two days.
Residents described gruesome scenes. Local businessman San Hlaing said he counted 28 bodies this week, all of them men, and had seen blackened corpses burning in piles.
The government's struggle to contain the violence is proving another major challenge Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent.
Thein Sein took office two years ago this month, and despite ushering in an era of reform, he has faced not only violence in Rakhine state, but an upsurge in fighting with ethnic Kachin rebels in the north and major protests at a northern copper mine where angry residents — emboldened by promises of freedom of expression — have come out to denounce land grabbing.
The devastation in Meikhtila was reminiscent of strikingly similar scenes last year in western Myanmar, where sectarian violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya left hundreds of people dead. More than 100,000 people are still displaced from that conflict, almost all of them Muslim.
The troubles in Meikhtila began on Wednesday after an argument broke out between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers. A Buddhist monk was among the first killed, inflaming tensions that led a Buddhist mob to rampage through a Muslim neighborhood.
Residents and activists said the police did little to stop the rioters or reacted too slowly, allowing the violence to escalate. "They were like scarecrows in a paddy field," San Hlaing said.
Khin Maung Swe, a 72-year-old Muslim lawyer who said he lost all his savings, also complained authorities did nothing to disperse the mobs.
"If the military and police had showed up in force, those troublemakers would have run away," he said, inspecting the remains of his damaged home. "There would have been no violence if the security forces had just fired shots into the air to scare them away."
By Friday, clashes had ceased, but buildings still smoldered and the city remained tense as police seized knives, swords, hammers and sticks from young men in the streets and detaining scores of looters.
Monks accosted and threatened journalists trying to cover the unrest, at one point trying to drag a group of several out of a van. One monk, whose faced was covered, shoved a foot-long dagger at the neck of an Associated Press photographer and demanded his camera. The photographer defused the situation by handing over his camera's memory card. The group of nine journalists took refuge in a monastery and stayed there until a police unit was able to escort them to safety.
San Htwe, a 39-year-old housewife, said on Saturday that she could see police and soldiers "everywhere", but: "I don't feel at ease because I'm afraid that the situation will be like in Rakhine" — where Buddhist and Muslims communities live in near-total segregation.
She said her 8-year old son was already traumatised by the riots, and could barely eat. "Whenever he hears shouting, he says, in panic: 'Mom, let's run! The kalar are coming." Kalar is a derogatory word for Muslims.
"I think most children here have experienced trauma," she said. "I worry that it will remain in their minds forever."
There were indications on Friday that the violence had already spread to at least one village on the outskirts of Meikhtila, about 550 kilometres north of Yangon.
Local activist Myint Myint Aye said fires were burning in the nearby village of Chan Aye, where shops were looted but calm was restored later in the day.