A group of Buddhist nationalists have been questioned by police in Mandalay for putting up stickers urging people to “vote for those who protect race and religion” in Sunday’s election.
They were among a few dozen campaigners who took to the streets in Yangon and Mandalay on Tuesday morning wearing t-shirts that also read “Protect race and religion”.
A police officer from Mandalay’s Chan Thar Zan township told Myanmar Now the “leaders” behind the sticker campaign had been brought to the local No. 5 police station and questioned before being released.
The officer, who declined to be named, did not specify how many were questioned or on what grounds.
It is against the law to use religion to campaign in elections in Myanmar, though it is unclear if the messaging on the stickers breaches that law.
Aye Aye Maw, who led the sticker campaign in Yangon’s Hlegu township, said she was unaware of the corresponding campaign in Mandalay.
“We don’t look at the party, we just look at the person,” she told Myanmar Now. “Since we are Buddhists, we will just choose good leaders who can protect race and religion. That’s why we did this campaign, to urge other Buddhists [to do the same].”
She added that the campaign was not related to the arrest on Monday of the ultranationalist monk Wirathu, who handed himself in to police in Yangon after almost a year and half as a fugitive from sedition charges.
“We started talking through small online groups to do something to protect our race and religion. Then we implemented this campaign in our township,” she said.
The campaigners spent roughly an hour putting up stickers and affixing pamphlets to cars, motorcycles and trishaws, Hlegu residents said.
Than Aung, a Hlegu resident, said he suspected the pamphleteers were inspired by Wirathu’s reappearance.
“Yesterday, U Wirathu handed himself in to the police… so the timing is interesting,” he said.
