5th July 2014
M-Media
Reported by Thuta
In the process of the violent attack which started in the very beginning of July in Mandalay, two people were killed and several people were wounded.
Muslims were attacked inequitably and lots of anti-Muslim rumors spread quickly; plus the rumor about the Gyon Mosque, which was accused of storing up weapons, had appeared on the internet page.
Due to those rumors, the authorities including the chief minister of Mandalay Region U Ye Myint and police sought the mosque this morning. They said that they found the weapons and arrested five people who stayed in the mosque.
This morning, the state-owned newspapers and some private medias published the news with the heading, “the weapons are detected in the Gyone Mosque”.
Those alleged five men were moved to the O-Bo prison and were supposed to be in the court for the trial on 8th July.
Although A section 144 overnight curfew and the command not to group more than 5 people in the streets were imposed on the evening of 3rd July, the authorities allowed more than ten thousands of people including the rioters to attend the funeral of Ko Htun Htun who was killed by one controversial mob last day and the mass crowd joined the funeral procession till the cemetery.
Although the mourners were holding the weapons such as machetes, clubs, etc. obviously wondering in the streets and made some destruction on the way to the cemetery, no news had been revealed yet that the authorities had taken actions against lawbreakers.
A Mandalay resident said that the weapons found in the mosque they announced were just as the tools, knives and small weapons which were kept in every house for daily use and self-protection; but Muslims were taken action in an unfair way under the section of such serious law Act.
