The prominent Rakhine nationalist politician Aye Maung was arrested on Thursday and is facing criminal prosecution after he gave a speech in which, according to state media, he \u201curged the people to take advantage of the weakness of the government and to march towards the goal of sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n
News of the legal action comes as the already-volatile situation in Burma\u2019s westernmost state grew more fraught on Tuesday, when\u00a0police killed at least seven protesters<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0during what the government has described as a \u201criot\u201d sparked by authorities\u2019 refusal to permit a Rakhine commemoration ceremony.<\/p>\n Thousands of ethnic Rakhine descended on the local administrative office in Mrauk-U Township to protest the banning of an event marking the anniversary of the Arakan kingdom\u2019s demise over 200 years ago, and police opened fire on the crowd after they refused to comply with orders to disperse.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s edition of the state-run\u00a0Global New Light of Myanmar<\/em>\u00a0reported that the Rakhine State government met on Tuesday to discuss the remarks by Aye Maung and a speech by the writer Wai Hin Aung at the same 15 January gathering in Rathedaung Township. The state-level cabinet \u201cdecided to open a file in accordance with the law against the men and others who were involved in organising the talk,\u201d read the report.<\/p>\n According to the Ministry of Information, the two men will face charges under the Unlawful Association Act, as well as the Burmese Penal Code\u2019s sections 505 and 121, covering incitement and \u201chigh treason,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n Aye Maung was arrested at his home in Sittwe, the Rakhine State capital, at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, while Wai Hin Aung was detained on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cWai Hin Aung was arrested at his house in Sittwe and taken to the Sittwe District police station,\u201d said Khaing Kaung San, director of the Wun Latt Foundation, a local civil society group.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was arrested regarding the literary talk in Rathedaung Township,\u201d he told\u00a0DVB<\/em>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Global New Light of Myanmar\u00a0<\/em>provided excerpts of Wai Hin Aung\u2019s speech in which, according to the state-run daily, he appeared to endorse the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group that has been a thorn in the government\u2019s side for years.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the people in [Rathedaung] Township have a duty for freedom from the servitude by Burmese,\u201d he was quoted as saying. \u201cToday is the time when the government is in political crisis, and this situation brings good advantage to us. Also, the right time for us to take armed struggle to gain our independence. All must participate in this struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n DVB<\/em>\u00a0could not independently verify the authenticity of those remarks.<\/p>\n In\u00a0an interview on Thursday<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0outside his home prior to his arrest, Aye Maung appeared calm, cradling a baby and professing his innocence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe charges against us are not quite relevant to the talk we gave at the event [on Monday]. We just gave a talk based on theoretical perspectives of Myanmar\u2019s political landscape,\u201d he told\u00a0DVB<\/em>.<\/p>\n He criticised the government crackdown on the protesters in Mrauk-U, and called the incident a setback for efforts to achieve national reconciliation.<\/p>\n Wider woes<\/strong><\/p>\n Ethnic tensions are running high in Rakhine State, where for years the state\u2019s majority Rakhine Buddhist and minority Rohingya Muslim populations have managed an uneasy coexistence. The emergence of Rohingya militancy in October 2016 and a subsequent attack by the insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), on 25 August of last year has dramatically escalated the inter-religious volatility.<\/p>\n Representatives of Burma\u2019s government\u00a0met this week<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0with Bangladeshi counterparts to discuss plans to repatriate more than 650,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled Rakhine State since the August attacks. The repatriation process is likely to be a major challenge for the Burmese government as it attempts to balance international pressure for the refugees\u2019 dignified return with a local ethnic Rakhine population that largely sees the Muslim Rohingya as illegal interlopers from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n Aye Maung has consistently railed against recognition of the Rohingya as a legitimate ethnic group in Burma and advocates strict adherence to Burma\u2019s controversial 1982 Citizenship Law, including in\u00a0this August appearance<\/a><\/strong> as a panelist for DVB Debate.<\/p>\n Condemnation of the police crackdown in Mrauk-U, meanwhile, is building. Local activists and international rights groups were quick to call for an investigation into the incident. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch lodged denunciations of the police force\u2019s handling of the situation, and a small group of protesters assembled outside the Rakhine State government cabinet building on Wednesday, bearing signs that called for the government to \u201ctake full responsibility for the [deaths]of innocent civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday, the authorities violently cracked down on civilians who were peacefully protesting,\u201d said Khaing Thurein, one of the protesters.<\/p>\n That assertion contradicts government accounts of the altercation, however.<\/p>\n \u201cAs authorities repeatedly asked the gathering through hand-held speakers to disperse, demonstrators launched stones with slingshots and threw bricks at security forces, and later allegedly tried to seize the weapons of two policemen,\u201d read a report in Thursday\u2019s\u00a0Global New Light of Myanmar<\/em>.<\/p>\n While the circumstances surrounding the violent confrontation may be in dispute, it is objectively one of the deadliest clashes to occur between police and protesters in years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe casualty count is high. Several people were injured,\u201d Khaing Thurein said. \u201cSuch an act is an abuse of power. We cannot accept such acts that harm civilians. We are staging this protest to prevent this from recurring. The government has the sole responsibility for the bloody crackdown.\u201d<\/p>\n Adding to the complex political and social dynamics at play in Rakhine at the moment, Aye Maung and the state\u2019s dominant ethnic political party appear to have had a falling out in recent months. The veteran politician and ardent Rakhine nationalist Aye Maung, who was chairman of the Arakan National Party and is a sitting lawmaker in the Lower House,\u00a0submitted his resignation<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0from the party in late November.<\/p>\n