In Burma, Religious Riots Flare Up Again

  • Share
  • Read Later

The central Burmese town of Meikhtila declared a curfew for a second night on March 21 after clashes killed 10 people, including a Buddhist monk, and injured at least 20, authorities said. Riots erupted in Meikhtila, a town roughly 340 miles north of Yangon, a day earlier after an argument between a Buddhist couple and the Muslim owners of a gold shop escalated into a riot involving hundreds of people, police said. The violence is just the latest in a series of sectarian clashes, after unrest in western Rakhine state last year left more than 200 dead, according to Associated Press reports.

(MORE: State of Emergency Declared in Central Burma After Religious Riot)

(MORE: TIME’s Hannah Beech on Burma’s President Thein Sein)

(PHOTOS: Sectarian Unrest in Burma Sees Dozens Dead, Thousands Fleeing)

(PHOTOS: On the Front Lines with the Kachin Independence Army)

More Photography from Time