Mob disturbs shipping of int'l aid to Myanmar's northern state

APD NEWS

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A group of mob comprising some 300 people disturbed a boat carrying aid materials of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Sittway, capital of Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, on Wednesday evening.

The aid materials were to be distributed to internally displaced people in the state torn by violence, according to the government's Information Committee.

Eight of the mob were detained for interrogation and some police were injured.

The riot began with 50 people asking the Red Cross in-charge to unload the aid materials weighing about 50 tons from a boat at a jetty in Sittway and prevented the boat from leaving.

During negotiation involving the local authorities and some Buddhist monks, the crowd gathered up to 300 in number and some of them threw stones and home-made arrows at the riot police.

The police claimed the situation has been under control at night.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)