The SAC military threatened to burn more than 50 shops at the entrance of Zigon Town, Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region if the shops were not demolished within a week.
More than fifteen soldiers, police, and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen arrived with full weapons and threatened shop owners as mentioned above on the morning of October 30, a local resident in Zigon said.
“They (SAC troops) said shop by shop. What they said is that all shops must be removed within a week. If they are not demolished, they will be burned,” the local resident told MPA.
The shop owners went to the Zigon Police Station and filed a petition to replace the land. An official from the police station told them that they had to remove the shops as per the order from above and that there was no arrangement to replace the land, some local residents said.
The local resident said, “Shops were forced to remove in such a troubled time. I don’t know where to go and make a living. Selling does not quite go well these days. I have my family behind me. There are many difficulties. If the shop is demolished, it costs the carpenter’s fees, and carries timber and roof sheets with an auto rickshaw. If the shop is not removed, it will be lost. There’s nothing I can do.”
The shops are sewing shops, gas stations (small), clothing shops, machinery equipment shops, and hardware shops, and the shops have been open for about 10 years.
An official of the Infinity Group, which reports local revolution news, said, “Indeed, they (SAC military) drive the people into a crisis. Most of those shops are owned by the grassroots.”
Kantbalu, Kyun Hla, Taze, and Zigon are the townships where Pyu Saw Htee militia is strong and where Ma-Ba-Tha Monk Vasava (Ma Ba Tha is an association for the protection of Race and Religion), the leader of Pyu Saw Htee militia, is active.