| 2013 Myanmar anti-Muslim riots | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Shan State |
| Date | 20 March 2013 – 2 October 2013 (UTC+06:30) |
Attack type | Religious |
| Deaths | 50+ [1] [2] |
| Injured | 80+ |
Armed conflicts
Coup d'états Protests Related topics  Myanmarportal |
The 2013 Myanmar anti-Muslim riots were a series of conflicts in various cities throughout central and eastern Myanmar (Burma).
Tensions between Buddhist and Muslim ethnic groups flared into violent clashes in Meiktila, Mandalay Division on 20 March and continued until the 22nd, killing at least 40 and wounding 61 people. The violence started on 20 March after a Muslim gold shop owner, his wife, and two Muslim employees assaulted a Buddhist customer and her husband in an argument over a golden hairpin. A large mob formed and began to destroy the shop. The heavily outnumbered police reportedly told the mob to disperse after they had destroyed the shop. [3] In the evening, a local Buddhist monk not involved in the incident was dragged from his bicycle, doused in petrol, and burnt alive by six Muslim youths at a nearby mosque. [4] The killing of the monk caused the relatively contained situation to explode, greatly increasing intensity and violence. [3]
The deadliest incident occurred when a Buddhist mob attacked and torched the Mingalar Zayone Islamic Boarding School. While outnumbered security forces stood by, rioters armed with machetes, metal pipes, chains, and stones killed 32 Rohingya children under 6 years old, teenage students and four teachers. [5]
On 25 March, communal rioting targeting Muslim houses and mosques spread to the towns of Othekone, Tatkone and Yamenthin. At least 9,000 residents were documented to have been displaced by the violence. [6] In April, the BBC obtained a leaked police video showing outnumbered police officers standing by while rioters torched houses and businesses in Meiktila. The video also shows the burning and killing of at least two Muslim students at the hands of rioters, which included Buddhist monks. The video was captured to prosecute the perpetrators later in court. On the third day, the situation stabilised when the government declared a state of emergency and deployed military troops. [3]
On 21 May, seven Muslims, including the gold shop owner and those who perpetrated the murder of the monk, were convicted for inciting the unrest and jailed from 2 up to 28 years. In July, the Burmese courts sentenced 25 Buddhists to up to 15 years in prison for murder and other crimes during the riot. [1]
On 30 April 400 Buddhists armed with bricks and sticks overran mosques and torched more than 100 homes and shops in Okkan, killing two people and injuring at least ten more. Another 77 homes were destroyed in the nearby villages of Yadanakon, Panipin, Chaukthe and Thekon. The riot reportedly began when a Muslim woman on a motorcycle accidentally bumped into a Buddhist monk, knocking over his alms bowl. [7]
On 29 May, violence broke out in Lashio, Shan State, near Myanmar's border with China, after a rumour spread on social media that a 48-year-old Muslim man named Ne Win poured petrol on a young Buddhist woman with whom he was arguing and set her on fire. [8] In response, a Buddhist mob armed with machetes and bamboo poles torched a mosque, a Muslim orphanage, and several shops after the police refused to surrender Ne Win. The Buddhists continued to riot the next day and at least one person died. [9] Sword-wielding Buddhist gangs began patrolling the streets on motorbikes, forcing as many as 1,400 Muslims to take shelter in a Buddhist monastery until the police and army were able to restore order.
On 24 August, violence once again flared up in Htan Gon village, 16 kilometres south of Kantbalu in the Sagaing Region, following rumours that a Muslim man tried to sexually assault a young Buddhist woman. [10] Local monks led a 1,000-strong Buddhist mob to retaliate by burning down Muslim owned businesses and the village mosque. State television reported that 42 houses and 15 shops owned primarily by Muslims were razed during the three-hour riot. One firefighter and one civilian were injured in the incident. Police officers were powerless to contain the violence, but finally dispersed the mob by firing their pistols into the air. [10] [11] [12]
Between 29 September and 2 October, Rakhine Buddhists rioted and attacked Kamein Muslims in Thabyachaing and Linthi villages, about 20 kilometres north of the coastal town of Thandwe in Rakhine State. Seven Muslims and two Buddhists were killed and between 70 and 80 houses were set on fire. About 500 ethnic Kamein Muslims were forced to flee from their homes. [13] [14] Local residents were worried that a further round of violence between Rakhine Buddhist and Muslim communities would ensue after two young Rakhine Buddhists girls aged five and six were found murdered on 17 and 18 November in separate incidents. One victim reportedly appeared to have been raped. [15]
In April 2013, Muslim and Buddhist detainees from Myanmar clashed at a refugee camp in Indonesia. Eight Buddhists were killed and fifteen other people were wounded. [16] Sources have asserted that the provocation for the riot was due to sexual harassment against female Rohingya Muslim inmates by the Rakhine Buddhist inmates. [17] [18] An Indonesian court jailed 14 Muslim Rohingya for nine months each in December. The sentence was lighter than the maximum penalty for violence resulting in death, which is 12 years. The men's lawyer said they would appeal for freedom because there was no real evidence shown during the trial. [19]
In May, two Muslims were arrested for planning to attack the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia with pipe-bombs. [20] The mastermind of the plot said he was still at war with anyone oppressing Muslims. [19]
In June, at least four Buddhists were murdered in Malaysia which was linked to ethnic tensions in Myanmar. All the victims, including a man slashed to death by a machete-wielding mob in Kuala Lumpur, were Buddhists from Myanmar. Malaysian police had arrested approximately 60 Burmese immigrants in an attempt to control tensions. [21]
In July, Muslims were blamed for the Bodh Gaya bombings, which targeted one of Buddhism's most revered sites. Five people, including two Buddhist monks, were injured by the blasts. [20]
On 5 August, two pipe-bombs went off outside the Ekayana Buddhist Centre in West Jakarta as some 300 people gathered inside the temple for a sermon, injuring three people. [22] There was a note from the perpetrators that read "We respond to the screams of the Rohingya". [23]
Rakhine State, formerly known as Arakan State, is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between latitudes 17°30' north and 21°30' north and longitudes 92°10' east and 94°50' east. The Arakan Mountains or Rakhine Yoma separated Rakhine State from central Burma from North to South. Off the coast of Rakhine State there are some fairly large islands such as Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun. Rakhine State has an area of 36,762 square kilometres (14,194 sq mi) and its capital is Sittwe.
Religious segregation is the separation of people according to their religion. The term has been applied to cases of religious-based segregation which occurs as a social phenomenon, as well as segregation which arises from laws, whether they are explicit or implicit.
Human rights in Myanmar under its military regime have long been regarded as among the worst in the world. In 2022, Freedom House rated Myanmar’s human rights at 9 out 100.
The Rohingya people are a stateless ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. There are also restrictions on their freedom of movement, access to state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics, analysts and political figures, including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid activist. The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity, and the International Court of Justice to investigate genocide.
Islam is a minority religion in Myanmar, practised by about 2.1% of the population, according to the 2014 Myanmar official statistics.
In Myanmar, terrorism is defined by the country's counter-terrorism law and its subsections, which is interpreted by the Anti-Terrorism Central Committee and enforced by the government of Myanmar. Two groups are currently listed as terrorist organisations in accordance with Myanmar's counter-terrorism law; the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which was added on 25 August 2017, and the Arakan Army, which was added on 18 January 2019. The SPDC military government called the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) "terrorists" after their role in the 1999 Myanmar Embassy siege, but the group was never legally declared as such.
There is a history of persecution of Muslims in Myanmar that continues to the present day. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority country, with significant Christian and Muslim minorities. While Muslims served in the government of Prime Minister U Nu (1948–63), the situation changed with the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. While a few continued to serve, most Christians and Muslims were excluded from positions in the government and army. In 1982, the government introduced regulations that denied citizenship to anyone who could not prove Burmese ancestry from before 1823. This disenfranchised many Muslims in Myanmar, even though they had lived in Myanmar for several generations.
The 2012 Rakhine State riots were a series of conflicts primarily between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, though by October Muslims of all ethnicities had begun to be targeted. The riots started came after weeks of sectarian disputes including a gang rape and murder of a Rakhine woman which police allege was committed by three Rohingya Muslims. On 8 June 2012, Rohingyas started to protest from Friday's prayers in Maungdaw township. More than a dozen residents were killed after police started firing. A state of emergency was declared in Rakhine, allowing the military to participate in administration of the region. As of 22 August 2012, officially there were 88 casualties: 57 Muslims and 31 Buddhists. An estimated 90,000 people were displaced by the violence. Around 2,528 houses were burned; of those, 1,336 belonged to Rohingyas and 1,192 belonged to Rakhines.
The 2012 Ramu violence refers to a series of attacks on Buddhist monasteries, shrines, and houses of Buddhist inhabitants in Ramu Upazila in Cox's Bazar District in Bangladesh by local mobs on the midnight past 29 September 2012. The mobs destroyed 12 Buddhist temples and monasteries and 50 houses in reaction to a tagging of an image depicting the desecration of a Quran on the timeline of a fake Facebook account under a Buddhist male name. The actual posting of the photo was not done by the Buddhist who was falsely slandered. The Buddhist was innocent of the accusation. The violence later spread to Ukhia Upazila in Cox's Bazar District and Patiya Upazila in Chittagong District where Buddhist monasteries and Hindu temples were targeted for attacks.
The Rohingya conflict is an ongoing conflict in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State, characterised by sectarian violence between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities, a military crackdown on Rohingya civilians by Myanmar's security forces, and militant attacks by Rohingya insurgents in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Rathedaung Townships, which border Bangladesh.
The Arakan Army, sometimes referred to as the Arakha Army, is an ethno-nationalist armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded in April 2009, the AA is the military wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA). It is currently led by Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing and vice deputy commander-in-chief Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng. The Arakan Army states that the objective of its armed revolution is to restore the sovereignty of the Arakan people. It was declared a terrorist organization in 2020 by Myanmar, and again by the State Administration Council junta in 2024.
The 969 Movement is a Buddhist nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam's expansion in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar (Burma). The three digits of 969 "symbolize the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist community". The first 9 stands for the nine special attributes of the Buddha and the 6 for the six special attributes of his Dharma, or Buddhist Teachings, and the last 9 represents the nine special attributes of Buddhist Sangha. Those special attributes are the Three Jewels of the Buddha. In the past, the Buddha, Sangha, Dhamma, the wheel of Dhamma, and "969" were Buddhist signs.
Ashin Wirathu is a Burmese Buddhist monk, and the leader of the 969 Movement in Myanmar. He has incited the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar through his speeches. Facebook banned his page on the charge of allegedly spreading religious hatred towards other communities, after repeated warnings to not post religiously inflammatory content.
Azad Maidan Riot refer to riots organised in Azad Maidan in Mumbai, India on 11 August 2012 to condemn the Rakhine riots and which started as a protest and later turned into a riot. The riot reportedly began as the crowd got angry either after hearing an inflammatory speech or after seeing photographs of Rakhine state riots. The riot resulted in two deaths and injuries to 63 people including 58 police officers. Mumbai Police estimated that the riots caused a loss of ₹2.74 crore in damages to public and private property.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin, is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group, it is led by Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, a Rohingya man who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Other members of its leadership include a committee of Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia.
The following lists events in the year 2017 in Myanmar.
The Rohingya genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the Muslim Rohingya people by the military of Myanmar. The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. The crisis forced over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. Most fled to Bangladesh, resulting in the creation of the world's largest refugee camp, while others escaped to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia, where they continue to face persecution. Many other countries consider these events ethnic cleansing.
Violent clashes have been ongoing in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State since October 2016. Insurgent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have led to sectarian violence perpetrated by Myanmar's military and the local Buddhist population against predominantly Muslim Rohingya civilians. The conflict has sparked international outcry and was described as an ethnic cleansing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In August 2017, the situation worsened and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Myanmar into Bangladesh, with an estimated 500,000 refugees having arrived by 27 September 2017. In January 2019, Arakan Army insurgents raided border police posts in Buthidaung Township, joining the conflict and beginning their military campaign in northern Rakhine State against the Burmese military.
Events in the year 2018 in Myanmar.
On 13 November 2023, the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic resistance group active in the civil war in Myanmar, launched a military offensive against Myanmar's military junta in Rakhine and southern Chin State. Fighting began concurrently with the launch of Operation 1027, which the Arakan Army, as a member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, also participated in. The offensive broke an informal ceasefire between the Arakan Army and the junta that had been in place for a year. During the offensive, the Arakan Army captured several towns in northern Rakhine, including Mrauk U, the capital of Mrauk-U District and the historical capital of Arakan. These gains gave them total control over most of northern Arakan. The Arakan Army followed these successes by besieging Sittwe, the state capital, and Ann, the headquarters of the junta's western command. They also launched offensives in the southern parts of the state, capturing several towns and throwing junta forces into disarray. The International Institute for Strategic Studies reported that the Arakan Army's sweeping gains "are already enough to enable self-rule over a large portion of the Rakhine homeland and to reshape the wider balance of power in Myanmar."
