CNN: Shooting, arrests reported in

[Winston_Lee@xxxxxxx]

Subject: CNN: Shooting, arrests reported in new unrest in Burma

Winston Lee@SHI
03/20/97 12:50 PM

                     Shooting, arrests reported in
                     new unrest in Burma

                     March 19, 1997
                     Web posted at: 11:06 p.m. EST (0406 GMT)

                     RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Riot police in
                     Mandalay shot at crowds of Buddhists,
                     including monks, who were ransacking
                     mosques in response to the alleged rape of a
                     Buddhist girl by a Muslim, residents said
                     Wednesday.

                     At least two monks were hospitalized with
                     wounds from ricocheting bullets, said the residents,
who refused to
                     give their names.

                     It was unclear whether there had been other injuries
or deaths.
                     Officials from the military government have declined
comment
                     since the unrest erupted over the weekend.

                     Residents said Mandalay, 400 miles north of Rangoon,
was quiet
                     Wednesday. Official cars with loudspeakers warned
residents to
                     respect a curfew and not to assemble in groups of five
 or more.

                     Mandalay's 20,000 monks are notoriously militant. They
 took to
                     the streets in anti-government protests in 1988 and
1990, but have
                     been quiet in recent years since Burma's military
regime banned
                     many of their organizations and defrocked prominent
activists.

                     Nearly 90 percent of Burma's 50 million people are
Buddhists and
                     about 4 percent are Muslims. Religious tensions
normally do not
                     run high, but the government treats potential friction
 seriously.

                     Residents attributed the unrest to reports of a sexual
 attack by a
                     Muslim man against a Buddhist girl over the weekend.
The girl
                     notified police, and the suspect reportedly tried to
settle the affair
                     with a payoff.

                     Apparently angered by the amount of the settlement, a
Buddhist
                     monk related to the girl led other monks in ransacking
 a mosque
                     and the man's home Sunday, residents said. The curfew
was
                     subsequently imposed and police erected roadblocks