'A group of artists trying to raise awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic have been charged with blasphemy and subjected to online vitriol from Buddhist hardliners after posting photos of their work to Facebook.
Artist Zayar Hnaung apologized online last night, saying he was a Buddhist with no intention to of insulting Buddhism with the mural in Myitkyina, Kachine state, which shows health workers trying to rescue the world from a robed representation of the disease as death.
“The entire world including the rich and poor countries are confronted by the coronavirus. As a poor country, everyone here is responsible to prevent the disease,” Zayar Hnaung told Myitkyina News Journal.
Facebook users reacted angrily to the fact that the skeletal figure’s robe is the same saffron color as that worn by Buddhist monks in Myanmar. Some went so far as to push a conspiracy theory that the main artist was a pastor from a prominent Kachin Church on a mission to attack Buddhism. They called on the authorities to arrest the artists. The mural has since been painted over.'
Read more here: Street artist charged with blasphemy for COVID-19 mural | Coconuts Yangon
Artist Zayar Hnaung apologized online last night, saying he was a Buddhist with no intention to of insulting Buddhism with the mural in Myitkyina, Kachine state, which shows health workers trying to rescue the world from a robed representation of the disease as death.
“The entire world including the rich and poor countries are confronted by the coronavirus. As a poor country, everyone here is responsible to prevent the disease,” Zayar Hnaung told Myitkyina News Journal.
Facebook users reacted angrily to the fact that the skeletal figure’s robe is the same saffron color as that worn by Buddhist monks in Myanmar. Some went so far as to push a conspiracy theory that the main artist was a pastor from a prominent Kachin Church on a mission to attack Buddhism. They called on the authorities to arrest the artists. The mural has since been painted over.'
Read more here: Street artist charged with blasphemy for COVID-19 mural | Coconuts Yangon
