(15 Jun 2012) The heightened tensions around inter-communal trouble in Myanmar's Rakhine state were evident in Bangkok on Friday as demonstrators gathered outside the country's embassy to call for action.
About 60 Buddhist Myanmar protesters demanded the government take tough measures against what they called "terrorist Rohingya Bangladeshis" whom they blamed for the fighting that's already claimed at least 29 lives over the past two weeks.
Authorities in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe also revealed that 30-thousand people had been displaced, much higher than previous tallies and possibly posing a relief problem for a poor area.
The conflict pitting ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against stateless Rohingya Muslims is some of the worst sectarian unrest in Myanmar in recent years.
Although the tensions in Rakhine state are based on ethnic rivalries, they also split along religious lines.
The unrest, which has seen more than 2,500 homes charred and 30-thousand people displaced internally, erupted after a mob lynched 10 Muslims in apparent retaliation for the rape and murder last month of a 27-year-old Buddhist woman, allegedly by Muslims.
The Myanmar government regards Rohingyas mostly as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even though many of their families have lived in Myanmar for generations.
Bangladesh rejects them just as stridently.
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