A/HRC/39/CRP.2 attacks by ethnic Rakhine against Muslims took place almost simultaneously in nine townships across Rakhine State between 21 and 25 October 2012.1581 Involvement of local officials and security forces 733. State actors, including village administrators and members of the security forces, were involved significantly in the violence. The security forces actively participated in violence or failed to stop it.1582 For example, on 10 June 2012, security forces stood aside and watched as an ethnic Rakhine mob burned Kaman houses in Ramree. 1583 The police and Tatmadaw had the capacity to intervene and halt the violence but chose not to do so. In October 2012, while Rakhine State was under a state of emergency, interviewees stated that, when they approached district and township officials to seek protection, they were refused assistance.1584 One interviewee from Kyaukpyu received a similar response from a senior township official in October 2012 in west Paik Seik who told him that the fire engine could not be used to put out the burning houses because no permission had been given by “high officials”.1585 A credible source reported that police and ethnic Rakhine casually stood together during the burning in areas of Kyaukpyu. While the Muslims attempted to extinguish fires, ethnic Rakhine, the security forces and a fire truck all waited idly at the other end of the road.1586 734. The Mission also received accounts from both Sittwe and Kyaukpyu of fire brigades - which fall under the authority of the Tatmadaw - actually spreading fires instead of extinguishing them.1587 One interviewee from Sittwe shared the following account from June 2012: A vehicle came to extinguish the fires. However, when the firefighters spread liquid from the vehicle, I realized that they were spreading petrol and not water. It increased the flames instead of stopping the fire.1588 735. In Kyaukpyu, local government officials were present when ethnic Rakhine were setting houses on fire in October 2012.1589 Instead of intervening, one official accused Kaman and Rohingya villagers of burning the houses and told them to leave.1590 Also in Kyaukpyu, security forces, who had been paid by Muslim villagers for weeks to ensure their protection in Paik Seik, left in the morning of 22 October 2012, just a few hours before ethnic Rakhine attacked the area.1591 Involvement of monks and political parties 736. Rakhine nationalist political parties and organizations as well as influential monks also played an important role in the violence, through either instigation or direct participation. Monks and members of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) were reportedly involved in the attacks that took place in Sittwe. 1592 More generally, influential Buddhist organizations and the 969 movement appear to have been engaged from the earliest stages in 2012, fuelling anti-Muslim sentiments, instigating ethnic Rakhine to carry out the violence, or directly participating in violence.1593 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 174 V-050. See this chapter, section C.1: Emblematic incidents. CI-163, CI-171. CI-085, CI-165, CI-168, CI-170. CI-168. V-050. CI 083, CI-084, CI-166, CI-168, DI- 021, DI-022; K-109, KI-076.17. CI-166; KI-076.17. CI-165, CI-168, CI-170. CI-085, CI-165, CI-168, CI-170. DI-021, DI-024; V-050. CI-171; K-114, K-076.9.16, K-076.9.17, K-076.9.20, K-076.9.22, K-076.9.23, K-076.9.32. CI-164.