Burma’s Religious Affairs Minister Myint Maung has apologized to senior Buddhist monks for the violent crackdown by police at the Monywa copper mine in Sagaing Division last week, saying the incident was a “great grief” to the authorities.
Dozens of monks and laypeople suffered injuries including horrific burns when riot police launched incendiary devices at protesters on November 29.
At a ceremony with some of Burma’s most revered abbots, Myint Maung said he “begged the pardon of wounded monks and novices,” and blamed the “incompetency” of the authorities, according to a report in the New Light of Myanmar.
But he stopped short of apologizing for the crackdown itself, saying the demonstration had a "political" element and that the government was treating the wounded with a “clear conscience.”
