Two local journalists detained and assaulted in Kachin, Myanmar

A mining company in Myanmar’s Kachin state, detained and assaulted two journalists from Myitkyina Journal – an independent, local weekly –for reporting local residents’ concerns over a controversial Chinese tissue-culture banana plantation in the Waimaw Township.

The editor of the journal told the Irrawaddy that employees of mining company Tha Khin Sit, detained two of their journalists for more than two hours and threatened with repercussions if they did not remove the story from the website.

There have been ongoing protests by locals on the increasing China-backed banana plantation in the Kachin state. The journal earlier reported locals accusing operators of grabbing land rented from local authorities and consequent environmental damage.

The two reporters were released only after the journal contacted the Waimaw Township police station, who sent police officers to surround the company.