Rakhine refugees get their anxieties off their chest

Reported by EMG
At 11:14 am of 12 June, clashes broke out between about 6,000 Rakhine people and 10,000 Bengali Rohangyas. About 50 policemen and 30 soldiers are solving the problem, according to an EMG reporter. “When we saw the burning shops in Nyaung Thongwa Sone and Bengalis who were coming to attack our village, about 30 of our villagers tried to fight against them. They beat whoever they saw in the village. We told our children and women to go away. I witnessed they are beating a monk. Then we have to run away. Our two villagers were killed in the fight,” said Rakhine ethic U Thar Sein of Shwe Yin Aye Village. “I am a vendor at the Nyaung Thongwa Sone. Bengalis headed from Nyaung Chaung Village after they came out of mosque. When we abandoned our shops, they burned the shops. We sought shelter at the security camp. Bengalis are not afraid of the guns from the security forces” said vendor Ma Thida. “As our village was set on fire, we had to abandon our homes and left for Kantharyar Village. Bengalis did not step forward when they saw paramilitary forces. When we returned to our village yesterday, only six of 80 houses remained. We felt uneasy when we saw that scene,”  said Myanmar national Ko Than Lwin of Shwe Yin Aye village.