Demonstrations against the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation spread to the country’s second-largest city on Friday, as thousands of Buddhist monks and laypeople in Mandalay marched to protest the group’s plans to open an office in the former capital Rangoon.
The demonstration came as monks in Sittwe, the capital of western Burma’s conflict-ridden Rakhine state, renewed anti-OIC protests following communal violence in neighboring Bangladesh.
The protesters in Mandalay, who demonstrated peacefully for two hours in an unauthorized march and then dispersed, condemned the OIC plan to open an office in the former capital of Rangoon as an effort to create a foothold in Burma for a religion “under the influence of a foreign power” and pleaded for greater unity among Burma’s ethnic groups.
Friday's march marked the second anti-Muslim protest by Buddhist monks in Mandalay in recent weeks.
"We already have a problem with unity,” said Ashin Wiriya Biwunntha, a monk belonging to the Myawaddy monastery who took part in the Mandalay protest.
“And if the OIC opens its office here, the disunity among us will get worse,” he said.
Noting that the Burmese government and parliament have said they are “listening to the people’s voices,” Ashin Wiriya said, “We have to express our will so that the government can take action.”
Burmese authorities did not grant permission for the protest, but stood by without incident while the number of participants swelled from 500 to about 2,000 as more monks and laypeople joined the march.
Tensions in the region have run high since communal violence erupted in June between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists living in Burma’s northwestern state of Rakhine, leaving more than 80 dead and tens of thousands displaced.
A delegation from the OIC toured Rakhine state in September, after accusations from rights groups that security forces had opened fire on Rohingyas during the June clashes drew condemnation from Muslim communities around the world.
The OIC said on its website last month that it was considering opening a humanitarian assistance office in Rangoon.
Sittwe protest
Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 Burmese of different ethnic groups also protested on Friday outside the Bangladesh consulate in the Rakhine capital Sittwe to demand protection for Buddhists living inside the neighboring Muslim-majority country.
Bangladesh police said last week that they had arrested nearly 300 people in connection with a wave of violence in the southeast of the country in which Buddhist temples and homes were damaged and set on fire.
“It is a very ugly thing that Buddhist religious statues and buildings have been destroyed,” Maung Oo, chairman of the ethnic Maramagyi Social Association, said.
“Because the Bangladesh government doesn’t take care of minority groups there, the Buddhist community has faced a lot of hardship.”
“There are ethnic people from Burma living in Bangladesh, too, and we are protesting for their rights,” he said.
Friday’s protest followed a similar demonstration in Sittwe earlier this week when 500 monks were joined by some 1,000 supporters outside the Bangladesh consulate.
Many of Burma’s 800,000 Rohingyas are denied citizenship even though their families have lived there for generations. They are also not considered among Burma’s ethnic groups.
Rohingya, who bore the brunt of the June violence, are regarded by the U.N. as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
Burmese President Thein Sein has said that he would allow OIC to provide assistance if it was provided to all groups fairly in Rakhine state.
Reported by Nyan Winn Aung and Khin Khin Ei for RFA’s Burmese service. Translated by Khin May Zaw. Written in English by Richard Finney.
If you all think Buddhist majority are racist which we are not.
Let me ask you one question, how about in your country India, so many cast and discremination amoung your own people, even women and men you have made it not equal.
You all better do your own country good before pointing fingures to others.
Oct 17, 2012 10:51 AM
Myanmar government and its Buddhist majority society are racist and communal.They want only the Buddhists to live in the country. They are demanding the Rohingya Muslims be thrown out of the country. Some days ago when Taliban threatened to launch attacks on Buddhist sites we condemned it...Now I believe the Myanmar government and the monk brigade there are no different from Taliban.
Oct 16, 2012 03:39 AM
We do not need OIC in our land. Get out OIC. OIC must not come to Myanmar. We do want OIC. We do not need OIC. Because Muslims is very bad. We know Muslims are terrorists and murders. So We do not need OIC.
Oct 16, 2012 02:28 AM
PROTEST OF BUDDHIST AGAINEST MULIMS IS TOO WRONG(CHORE MACHAI SHORE).
Oct 14, 2012 12:22 PM
