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SLORC cops fire in air to quell rel



Subject: SLORC cops fire in air to quell religious strife 


              Myanmar cops fire in air to quell religious strife 

AFP 21/3

              YANGON -- Myanmar police fired over the heads of crowds in the
northern city of
              Mandalay in an attempt to disperse them as unrest between
Buddhists and Muslims
              continued, sources said yesterday. 

              Witnesses said that there were no known casualties in
Wednesday's incidents. 

              Trouble started at the weekend when Buddhist monks attacked
mosques and Muslim-owned
              property in apparent revenge for an alleged rape attempt on a
Buddhist girl by one or more
              Muslim men. 

              Eyewitnesses and travellers estimated that the number of monks
involved in the unrest had
              grown from several hundred to several thousand. They said that
tension was mounting. 

              The latest information indicated that eight mosques had been
vandalised so far and 18 motor
              vehicles damaged. 

              Some 85 per cent of Myanmar's population is Buddhist, while
Muslims account for about
              3.9 per cent, including some 250,000 in Mandalay. 

              Sources said that Buddhist monasteries in the Mandalay area
were signalling back and forth
              using hollowed-out pieces of wood or drums, apparently to
co-ordinate their activities. 

              Five townships in Mandalay and two on the outskirts were kept
under curfew for the third
              straight night. -- AFP.