Tensions between Buddhist and Muslim ethnic groups flared into violent clashes in Meiktila, Mandalay Division on 20 March and continued until the 22nd, killing at least 40 and wounding 61 people.
[3] In the evening, a local Buddhist monk not involved in the incident was dragged from his bicycle, doused in petrol, and burnt alive by six Muslim youths at a nearby mosque.
[3] The deadliest incident occurred when a Buddhist mob attacked and torched the Mingalar Zayone Islamic Boarding School.
While outnumbered security forces stood by, rioters armed with machetes, metal pipes, chains, and stones killed 32 Rohingya children under 6 years old, teenage students and four teachers.
[3] On 21 May, seven Muslims, including the gold shop owner and those who perpetrated the murder of the monk, were convicted for inciting the unrest and jailed from 2 up to 28 years.
[1] On 30 April 400 Buddhists armed with bricks and sticks overran mosques and torched more than 100 homes and shops in Okkan, killing two people and injuring at least ten more.
The riot reportedly began when a Muslim woman on a motorcycle accidentally bumped into a Buddhist monk, knocking over his alms bowl.
[7] On 29 May, violence broke out in Lashio, Shan State, near Myanmar's border with China, after a rumour spread on social media that a 48-year-old Muslim man named Ne Win poured petrol on a young Buddhist woman with whom he was arguing and set her on fire.
[8] In response, a Buddhist mob armed with machetes and bamboo poles torched a mosque, a Muslim orphanage, and several shops after the police refused to surrender Ne Win.
On 24 August, violence once again flared up in Htan Gon village, 16 kilometres south of Kantbalu in the Sagaing Region, following rumours that a Muslim man tried to sexually assault a young Buddhist woman.