Up to 80,000 shantytown-dwellers in Rangoon’s Dagon Port Township — one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the former capital — have been declared illegal squatters and face eviction.

Those living in four major wards within the township have been given until Wednesday, 12 February to leave their homes, authorities announced.

A notice issued by the township directive said residents who failed to leave their homes face legal action and a potential month-long prison sentence as per the Lower Burma Town and Village Lands Act of 1898.

If the villagers are forced to leave, it will be the largest displacement by forced eviction in Burma’s history.

Last week 1,000 families were also displaced in Rangoon’s Hlegu Township when bulldozers razed homes on what the government has declared an illegal settlement.

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