 |
| Damaged Oak-kan Mosque. |
The negligible bicycle accident on yesterday 30th April between a Muslim woman and a very
young Buddhist novice turned into an ugly anti-Muslim race riots in which the main mosque
of the town and about 20 shops owned by town Muslims were destroyed by a
Buddhist mob hell bent on driving the much-hated Bengali-Muslims out of their Burmese-Buddhist
town.
Bicycle Accident between Muslim and Buddhist
Novice
But she bluntly refused and reportedly insulted him by
yelling at him that his alms-bowl was not worth a pair of her slippers. People
nearby heard the insults and the rumors spread like wildfire all over the town and
later a Burmese-Buddhist crowd of about 200 gathered at the Oak-kan Bazaar
where the Muslim woman’s shop was.
The angry
mob eventually destroyed about 20 Muslim-owned shops and the nearby mosque
before the police arrived and restored the calm. Aung-yadana Ward the Muslim ward
in Oak-kan was burning at the time of this report and police were seen shooting
into the rioting crowd.
Police Statement on the Oak-kan Islamic
Race Riot
 |
| Police guarding the Oak-kan Mosque. |
He reported
that the novice Ashin Ponnya (11) from the Ah-lan-daing Monastery was on his daily
morning route of alms collection along the Pagoda Road at the south of Oak-kan
Bazaar that morning. He was then run over by the bicycle ridden by Win Win Sein
and the accident caused his alms-bowl to drop and crash.
U Hlaing Tin
basically wanted Win Win Sein to be charged since she had refused to compensate
for the damages caused by her and also rudely insulted a Buddhist novice.
Taik-kyee police then open a criminal case (Pa) 112/2013 as per the Crime Act
295 against Win Win Sein.
But at about
13:15 that day nearly 200 dis-satisfied Buddhist town-people arrived at the
Bazaar Mosque in Anaw-ra-hta Ward and threw bricks at the Mosque. About 6 3x3.5
ft glass panes of front windows were broken and two electric-meter-boxes were
damaged but no injuries of the persons were reported as the policemen led by
the Taik-kyee Police Commander arrived and prevented further
disturbances.
At about
14:25 a 200-strong group threw the goods and furniture out of about 25 shops in
the bazaar and destroyed the shops.
At 15:00
further police reinforcement led by the Police Commanders of Rangoon Division
and the Northern District arrived at Oak-kan and ended the disturbances by
15:10 that day.
At 15:45 two
people with gunshot wounds were found in the rice field of the Min-ye-kyaw-zwar
Ward just outside the Oak-kan Town and sent to the Oak-kan Hospital.
Eight more
people with gunshot wounds were also found and all together 10 men were wounded
by the police and they are to be charged for their involvement in the riots.
Aftermath of the Oak-kan Islamic Race Riots
“This incident should not have been that bad. Main thing is
our Buddhist people are too stupid. If these anti-Muslim race riots keep on
happening our country could face international condemnations.
To prevent further incidents from occurring again and again
we are to arrest the perpetrators and take strong legal actions against them.
The 15 we have already arrested are all Burmese-Buddhists. Our intelligence is indicating
that there still are more perpetrators at large and we will continue to search and
arrest them,” said Thet Lwin the Deputy
Police Chief of Rangoon Division Police.
According to
him 9 out of 15 Burmese-Buddhists arrested are being interrogated at Mingaladon
Police Station and 6 are at Insein Police Station in Rangoon.
Out of many Burmese-Buddhists shot by police one Buddhist
man Zaw Zaw Naing died of his gunshot wounds at 01:30 on May 1, today.
According to
the Oak-kan police the anti-Muslims race-riot has destroyed the town mosque and
81 houses and 50 shops owned by the Muslims in Oak-kan town. But the situations
are now calm as more police and armed-soldiers have arrived in Oak-kan today.
