About 300 riot police were deployed in Hlegu on April 6 to help enforce a curfew imposed on April 4 after a riot near a market, a police officer said.
The 6pm to 6am curfew was imposed after about 20 people gathered outside a snack shop near the market and began pelting it with missiles, said Police Major Khin Myint, who is based at Hlegu, about 45 kilometres from Yangon, told Mizzima on April 6.
The group had been demanding that three men involved in an alleged knife attack who had sought refuge in the snack shop be turned over to them, Police Major Khin Myint said.
Hlegu residents told Mizzima that the incident had started as a fight between the three men and another man, who was stabbed in the face by a pair of scissors.
Police Major Khin Kyint said police had dispersed the crowd before arresting the three men.
“The conflict arose from nothing more than an ordinary street fight and further arrests will be made,” he said.
Pyithu Hluttaw MP U Phyo Min Thein (National League for Democracy, Hlegu) told Mizzima that a similar incident had occurred three months ago.
U Phyo Min Thein said that while the latest incident began as nothing more than a brawl “it seems that people are taking advantage of this to start trouble”.
