A man has died after being beaten by a mob of supporters of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) during a riot in Sagaing Division, the region’s chief minister has said.
Myo Win Soe, 38, was hospitalised when supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the USDP clashed in Karbo village, Kanbalu township, on Thursday. He died on Saturday morning at Mandalay General Hospital.
It is the latest incident of election-related violence that has plagued campaigning in Myanmar in the run up to polling day on November 8, and the first time that someone has been killed.
Myo Win Soe was wearing an NLD t-shirt when he was attacked. His family held his funeral in Karbo on Sunday.
Sagaing’s chief minister, Dr Myint Naing, told Myanmar Now he visited Myo Win Soe’s family after his death.
“I was at his house and just left after donating five lakhs ($388),” he said. Another man was injured during the clash, he added.
Police are looking for five USDP supporters wanted in connection with the killing, Aung Htay, the village administrator, told Myanmar Now.
A team led by the regional social affairs minister will conduct an investigation into the violence, he said.
The confrontation started after USDP supporters arrived in Karbo on Thursday morning to campaign and were met with NLD supporters playing their party’s victory song through loudspeakers.
The USDP supporters then returned that evening and began destroying motorcycles and pelting houses with large rocks, said Aung Htay.
Aung Thu Tun, a USDP supporter who was in Karbo at the time, said NLD supporters started the confrontation by blocking a road and throwing rocks.
“Four youths wearing NLD shirts blocked the road and started to pick a fight,” he told Myanmar Now. “They threw a rock at a car and then ran inside a nearby house. The USDP supporters demanded that the youths come out but they didn’t. And so the crowd destroyed the motorbikes.”
Than Htun Aung, an NLD supporter, said his home was badly damaged by USDP supporters throwing rocks.
“The roof was ruined, the rocks were so big. The motorbikes in the house were damaged too. For about thirty minutes all we could do was watch it happen,” he said.
“It’s almost as if there was no rule of law. We were terrified,” he added.
The USDP supporters brandished sticks and knives and also damaged a checkpoint set up to screen people entering the village in a bid to prevent Covid-19 infections.
“They even ruined a gate meant for Covid-19 prevention measures,” said Aung Htay. “We couldn’t intervene while they were smashing things up.”
“There’s no way we can accept this kind of behaviour and these attacks,” Dr Myint Naing said, “The Union Election Commission will decide whether to punish the party or not.”
