Muslims in Myanmar’s second-largest city accused police today of standing by as a Buddhist mob went on a rampage, torching a school and other buildings.
Angry mourners, some carrying crude weapons, rioted in Mandalay after the funeral of a 36-year-old Buddhist victim of the country’s latest eruption of religious unrest, witnesses said.
A school and dormitory in the Muslim area of a cemetery on the outskirts of the city were seen charred and damaged on Saturday.
“More than 70 police were here but did nothing,” said Win Naing, a Muslim donor to the school, who watched the attack from his hiding place in the home of a Buddhist friend.
He said some of the rioters were armed with sticks, metal pipes and even saws.
No children were believed to be in the school at the time and nobody was thought to have been injured in the attack.
Several days of violence, sparked by an accusation of rape, have also left a Muslim dead and 14 other people injured.
“Police could have stopped the mob but they did not,” said Zaw Zaw Latt, a Muslim member of an interfaith group in the city.
There was no immediate comment from police.
At least 250 people have been killed across Myanmar since 2012 in Buddhist-Muslim clashes that have cast a shadow over the country’s political reforms.