One monk killed in clash between monks and soldiers in Mandalay

DVB ( 29 October 2003 )

There had been a clash between Buddhist monks and Burmese soldiers on 27 October in Mandalay and one monk was killed and two other were seriously wounded and they are being treated in a local hospital after the soldiers open fire on them.

The clash occurred after a monk named Ashin Werathu who was delivering anti-Muslim sermons was arrested by the authority. Then, 1000 monks from New Masoeyein and Myataung monasteries staged a demonstration, according to a local resident in Mandalay.

Security forces were placed around the hospitals and the New Masoeyein Monastery. The novice monks were ordered to go home and their classrooms were forced to close down.

Moreover, curfew was imposed in Mandalay around the monasteries. The authorities also stopped the traditional religious Tazaungdaing festival, according to local residents.

A senior monk from New Masoeyein Monastery told DVB that the authorities are partly to be blamed in this incident and accused them of splitting and exploiting the monks. He said that all lay people and monks should know the political trickeries of the government so that they could give the right reaction when exploited.

The authorities are also detaining 20 monks at the moment. The monks at Masoeyein Monastery are ordered not to go out on the pain of being shot by the order of the military commander of Central Military Command, General Ye Myint.