Myanmar Protesters Try to Block Aid Shipment to Muslim Rohingya

The shipment, being organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was bound to the north of the state where insurgent attacks on Aug. 25 sparked a military backlash.

The violence has sent more than 420,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh but many remain in Myanmar, hiding in fear of being caught up in more violence without food and other supplies, aid workers believe. The United Nations has accused the military of ethnic cleansing in the region.

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Several hundred people tried to stop a boat being loaded with about 50 tonnes of aid at a dock in the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe late on Wednesday, a government information office said on Thursday.

The protest was a testament to rising communal animosity that threatens to complicate the delivery of vital supplies.

The protesters, some carrying sticks and metal bars, threw petrol bombs and about 200 police were forced to disperse them by shooting into the air, a witness said, adding that he saw some injured people. Eight people were detained, the government information office said in a release.

A spokeswoman for the ICRC was not immediately available for comment. Police in Sittwewerealso not immediately available for comment.

The tension between majority Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine state, Myanmar, has simmered for years but it has exploded in violence several times over the past few years, as old prejudices have surfaced with the end of decades of military rule.

REUTERS