At least seven people have died after police in Myanmar opened fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. Authorities said they switched from rubber projectiles to real bullets after a celebration turned violent.
Image: Reuters/S. Lewis
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Authorities in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state confirmed on Wednesday that they shot dead several people when a nationalist celebration became violent late Tuesday night.
Around 4,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists gathered at a local government office and began throwing stones before attempting to seize the office late on Tuesday local time, local officials and police said.
Myanmar marks 70 years of independence
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"Security forces asked them to disperse and fired warning shots with rubber bullets ... but they didn't stop, so police had to use real bullets," police spokesman Colonel Myo Soe told news agency AFP.
Seven ethnic Rakhine people were killed and another 13 wounded in the clashes with police, the spokesman said, adding that 20 police were wounded by the crowd.
The group of ethnic Rakhine had gathered to mark the 223rd anniversary of the end of the Arakan dynasty, the last Rakhine kingdom, at an ancient Buddhist complex in Mrauk U.
It was not immediately clear why the celebration turned violent.
The Rakhine state's government secretary, Tin Maung Swe, told the dpa news agency that attendees began to protest after they were told the celebration could not be held on the archaeologically significant site.
Ethnic Rakhine, who are one of the 135 ethnicities present in Myanmar, have a regional identity tied to the Arakanese kingdom which was toppled by the Burmese in 1784.
Many of them are poor, marginalized and have poor relations with the Myanmar state, which is dominated by ethnic Bamar.
Alongside their animosity for the Myanmar state, ethnic Rakhine reject the Rohingya, who they denounce as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh — despite their living in the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar for generations.
Rohingya children: Raped, kidnapped, orphaned
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the atrocities committed by militants and the army in Myanmar is hard to stomach. The most vulnerable are children, as John Owens' photo series shows.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Shot and stabbed
Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. "The day the military came, they burnt down the village and shot my mother as she was trying to escape. My father couldn’t walk, so they stabbed him. I saw this with my own eyes," says 10-year-old Mohammed Belal who managed to run away from his village.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Haunted by the trauma
Mohammed’s sister Nur also watched the slaughter. She and her brother now live in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Bangladesh. She can play there and gets regular meals, a stark contrast to her journey from Myanmar where she and her brother nearly starved. But she is still haunted by the trauma of the recent weeks. "I miss my parents, my home, my country," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Deep-rooted conflict
The conflict, which has been going on for 70 years and is rooted in the post-World War II social organization of the country, has claimed more than 2,000 victims since 2016, including the mother of 12-year-old Rahman, above. "They set fire to my home, and my mother was ill, so she could not leave," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Save the children
Dilu-Aara, 5, came to the camp with her sister Rojina after she witnessed her parents being murdered by the military. "I was crying all the time and the bullets were flying over our heads. I escaped somehow." The international aid agency Save the Children is helping minors who come to Kutupalong without parents. Children make up to 60 percent of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Hunted like animals
Jaded Alam is among the hundreds of kids who came to Kutupalong without parents. Fortunately, his aunt cares for him — and very well, he admits. Jaded grew up in a village called Mandi Para where he used to love playing football, but everything changed when the military attacked. "They told us to leave our home. When I was running with my parents, they shot them. They died on the spot," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Child abductions
Not all families have been separated during their plight, however. Rahman Ali has been scouring the refugee camp for weeks now after his 10-year-old son Zifad disappeared. Rumors of child abductions have swirled around the camp for years, and Rahman fears his son has fallen prey to human traffickers. "I can't eat, I can’t sleep. I’m so upset! It’s like I’ve gone mad."
Image: DW/J. Owens
"My mind is not normal"
When the shooting started, Sokina Khatun did all she could to protect her children — but she couldn't save Yasmine,15, and Jamalita, 20, who were in a neighboring village at the time. "Their throats were cut in front of their grandparents," she says. "I was numb, I couldn’t feel the pain. Right now my mind is not normal," she says. She managed to rescue nine of her offspring.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Attacked, raped and robbed
Yasmine thinks she might be 15 but looks considerably younger. In her village, she used to play with marbles and run in the nearby fields, but different memories haunt her now: The attack by Myanmar forces, the beating and murder of her beloved father and brothers, and the rape by a group of Burmese soldiers who also robbed her. "I felt lots of pain in my body," she says.
