Four Sittwe squatters charged with trespassing

By DMG 27 Apr 2021

DMG Newsroom
27 April 2021, Sittwe 

Four people squatting in the Arakan State capital Sittwe’s Bumay ward were charged for trespassing, but have been released on bail. 

Police and local authorities detained four squatters over the weekend after flattening their makeshift shelters on April 21. 

Daw Than Nu, 32, Daw Ma Hla Thein, 60, and U Thar Pan Khaing, 73, were arrested on April 24 at about 10 p.m., and U Kay Thar Tun, 60, was arrested the following morning. 

U Thar Pan Khaing said they were released on bail around 9 p.m. on April 25.  

“All four of us were released. We were told not to answer media questions. They said our offence is not too serious to be given a prison sentence. They said they would later come and bring us to the court. They didn’t beat us [during interrogation],” he said. 

An officer from the Urban and Housing Development Department has filed a lawsuit against the four for trespassing under Section 447 of the Penal Code, said a police officer at the Sittwe police station. 

The section carries a sentence of up to three months in prison, a fine of K50,000, or both. 

Local authorities on April 21 demolished more than 100 makeshift shelters of squatters who had been living on vacant land located beside a railway in Bumay ward, leaving about 300 people homeless.

The land is earmarked for buildings for government departments and social organisations, said Sittwe Township administrator U Aung Zaw Oo. 

Some of the squatters are internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled their homes during clashes between the military and Arakan Army in Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships over recent years.