MANDALAY — Several hundred people gathered for the funeral of a Buddhist man in Pathein Gyi Township, located some 15 km north of Mandalay, on Friday afternoon and emotions ran high as the victim, Tun Tun, 36, was brought to a local cemetery.
He was one of two men killed in central Mandalay on Tuesday night during an outbreak of inter-communal violence between Buddhist and Muslim residents of Burma’s second biggest city. A 50-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death on his way to the mosque and another 14 people were injured.
Family members of the victim were grieving and the anger among some of the crowd was palpable.
Armed with bamboo sticks and rods, several hundred young men accompanied the mourners to
the Kyanikan cemetery (also known as Aye Yeik Nyein cemetery), where they set upon the Muslim section of the cemetery, destroying a several gravestones and burning down an orphanage building, a rest house and the home of the Muslim caretaker. No police were seen at the site.
On Friday night and Saturday morning, no more unrest was reported and central Mandalay remained calm after a heavy police deployment.