Buddhist mob torches another mosque in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar: In the second attack of its kind. A Buddhist mob burned down a mosque in northern Myanmar in just over a week as anti-Muslim sentiment swells in the Buddhist majority nation.

The security forces in Hpakant in Kachin state were unable to control Friday’s attackers, who were armed with sticks, knives and other weapons.

mosque2

On 23 June a group of men demolished a mosque and a Muslim cemetery in a village in the central Bago region, north east of Yangon.

The recent attack was in reaction to a dispute between mosque leaders and local authorities, who had ordered the religious structure to be taken down to make way for the construction of a bridge. After the deadline of 30 June for the mosque’s demolition which was not met, the local people took the matter into their own hands.

Nearly 100 police guarded the village after the incident. No arrests were made so far.

The UN urged the Burmese government to crack down on religious violence in the country.

UN special human rights envoy Yanghee Lee said in a statement on Friday that. “It is clear that tensions along religious lines remain pervasive across Myanmar society.”

“Incidents of hate speech, incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence, and of religious intolerance continue to be a cause for concern.”