Buddhist Monks Rally against Visit by Muslim Body
Around 300 Buddhist monks marched through Yangon Tuesday in protest at a looming visit by delegates from the world's top Islamic body to Myanmar, which has been rattled by several bouts of anti-Muslim violence.
A delegation from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will meet with Muslims and Buddhists during their stay later this week, according to a senior official.
Attacks against Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar have overshadowed widely praised political reforms overseen by the former general since military rule ended in 2011.
A total of around 500 protesters, some wielding banners in reading "No OIC" and "OIC get out", marched through the commercial capital Tuesday, accusing the Islamic bloc of wanting to internationalize the issue of religious violence.
One monk, called Pamaukkha, said the OIC was not welcome because they will deliver a biased assessment of Myanmar's troubles.
"They will say as majority of Buddhists are abusing a minority group of Muslims," he added.
"Then they will report on our internal affairs to the UK and the U.N."
Eye-witnesses to violence which flared in March in central Myanmar said people dressed in monks' robes were involved in the unrest.
Radical monks have also led a campaign to shun shops owned by Muslims.
The OIC delegation will "meet with people working... in Rakhine State and groups working for religious harmony -- from both communities," president's office spokesman Ye Htut said in a post on his Facebook page.
Around 250 people have been killed and more than 140,000 left homeless in several outbreaks of violence around the country since June 2012, mostly in Rakhine State.
The unrest has instilled fear in the country's Muslims, some of whose families had lived peacefully alongside Buddhists for generations.
It has also stirred international condemnation, including from the OIC which last year condemned the violence against Muslims in Myanmar as "genocide".
Source: Agence France Presse
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