Woman detained for selling firecrackers at Sittwe market

By Admin 28 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
28 October 2023, Sittwe
 
Junta police arrested a woman selling firecrackers in the Arakan State capital Sittwe’s central market on Saturday.
 
The woman, 56, was arrested by a uniformed police officer and two others in plainclothes.
 
“She was selling firecrackers outside Sittwe market. When police came to arrest her, she fled into the market. But she was chased and caught,” said a shopkeeper at the market.
 
The woman was reportedly taken to Sittwe No. 1 Police Station. DMG was unable to contact the chief of the police station at the time of reporting.

Rakhine Daily, a mouthpiece of the Arakan State military council, said the council would issue a bylaw to ban the shooting off of fireworks and firecrackers during the Thadingyut and Tazaungdaing festivals in all 17 Arakan State townships. 
 
Shopkeepers at Sittwe’s central market said they were not notified by authorities about the ban on selling fireworks and firecrackers. Residents in some wards also said they were not notified.
 
“We have not yet been told that firecrackers couldn’t be sold at the market,” said a shopkeeper at the Sittwe market. “We haven’t heard about the ban yet. We are not happy that the woman was arrested for selling a few firecrackers.”
 
A ward administrator in Sittwe told DMG: “I haven’t yet been instructed to announce the ban. So, I haven’t told the residents of my ward.”
 
A notice recently issued by the junta bans the shooting off of fireworks and firecrackers, saying these activities could cause public panic, and that unscrupulous persons could use fireworks and firecrackers as a cover to commit acts detrimental to community peace, tranquillity and security.
 
The shooting and selling of fireworks and firecrackers is punishable under Section 188 of the Penal Code, it states.
 
The ban will be in effect until November 28. Since fighting erupted between the Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar military in late 2018, the military has warned against shooting off fireworks and firecrackers every year as the Thadingyut holiday approached.