Myanmar protesters try to stop aid shipment to Muslim Rohingya

Buddhist protesters in Myanmar threw petrol bombs to try to block a shipment of aid to Muslims in Rakhine state, where the United Nations has accused the military of ethnic cleansing, before police fired in the air to disperse them.

Hundreds of protesters were involved in the attempt to stop Red Cross workers loading a boat with relief supplies.

The incident late on Wednesday reflected rising communal animosity, and came as U.S. President Donald Trump called for a quick end to the violence that has raised concern about Myanmar’s transition from military rule.

The aid shipment was bound for the north of the Rakhine State where insurgent attacks on Aug. 25 sparked a military backlash.

The violence has sent more than 420,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh but many remain in Myanmar, hiding in fear and without food and other supplies, aid workers say.

Several hundred people tried to stop a boat being loaded with about 50 tonnes of aid at a dock in the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe, a government information office said.

“People thought the aid was only for the Bengalis,” the secretary of the state government, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters, using a term that Rohingya find offensive.

Protesters, some carrying sticks and metal bars, threw petrol bombs and about 200 police were forced to disperse them by shooting into the air, a witness and the government information office said.

The witness said he saw some injured people. Eight people were detained, the information office said. None of the aid workers were hurt, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

Source: Reuters