Ei Mi San, a Taunggup woman who joined the protest, said: “Moral decay is setting in among our young people to the point we are now afraid to go out at night."

An Arakanese court has sentenced seven Buddhists each to seven years in jail over the killing of 10 Muslim pilgrims in an attack on a passenger bus in 2012, according to DPA.

The High Court of Arakan State has rejected an appeal by lawyers of seven men accused of murdering 10 Muslim pilgrims in 2012. The trial will now go ahead as scheduled at Sandoway District Court.

The Arakanese High Court has yet to announce its decision on whether to uphold an appeal against murder charges levelled at seven men indicted for the 2012 lynching of 10 Muslim pilgrims in Taunggup.

Locals in seven townships across Arakan State staged protests on Friday against a new radio station broadcasting in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships and providing Rohingya-language programming, which the protesters view as legitimising the Rohingya population.

Myint Thein, a Fisheries Department officer in southern Arakan State, an area with thousands of fishermen, discusses the challenges facing the fishing industry there.