Myanmar’s government has called for calm after mobs burned down a Muslim orphanage, a mosque and shops during a new eruption of religious violence in the east of the country.
The situation was “under control” after an overnight curfew was imposed in Lashio town in Shan state, according to police, which said the unrest was prompted by an attack on a local Buddhist woman by a Muslim man.
There were no other reports of injuries in the violence – the latest in a series of outbreaks of unrest that pose a major challenge to the country’s reformist government following the end of decades of military rule.
“A Muslim orphanage and a mosque were burnt down. Some shops owned by the orphanage and nearby buildings were destroyed,” a government official in Lashio who did not want to be named told AFP news agency on Wednesday.
According to state media, the 24-year-old victim suffered burns to her chest, back and hand, but her condition was not serious.
A 48-year-old Muslim man was arrested over the incident, after which dozens of Buddhist monks gathered in front of a police station in Lashio, it said.
A presidential spokesman appealed for an end to the latest violence, saying it had “no place in the democratic society we are trying to establish”.
“I would like to ask everyone to control (themselves) so this does not happen again in Lashio or other regions,” Ye Htut said in a message posted on his official Facebook page.
Religious violence in the former army-ruled nation has caused international alarm, with US President Barack Obama last week expressing “deep concern” about anti-Muslim attacks, during a landmark visit to the United States by President Thein Sein.
In March at least 44 people were killed in sectarian strife in central Myanmar where thousands of homes were set ablaze in riots sparked by an apparent row at a Muslim-owned gold shop.
Attacks against Muslims have exposed deep rifts in the Buddhist-majority country and cast a shadow over widely praised political reforms.
Hardline Buddhists – including monks – have urged a boycott of Muslim shops and used fierce anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Deadly unrest last year, mainly targeted at Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine State, left about 200 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
