M.MAS 1/12/17 Circulating online and through these other networks was a rumour that a construction company owned by a man who was reportedly a 969 supporter had ordered hundreds of long knives 18 from a nearby area known for metal work. According to the rumour, these weapons were to be used for killing Muslims. According to one interviewee, followers of a 969-affiliated organisation were going to do the killing; according to another interviewee, Buddhist gangs would be involved. According to the interviews, the rumours seemed plausible and people started to panic. The immediate effect was that Muslims and Buddhists ceased interacting, people stopped going out at night, and people from both religious groups began to close up their shops, anticipating violence. Muslims prepared themselves for the rumoured attack, including gathering tools that could be used as weapons and establishing watch patrols in their areas. However, the police soon asked that these patrols be disbanded and those organizing them complied. One interviewee related having heard later that a group of Buddhists approached a leading monk at a monastery near one of the Muslim areas and asked him for help in preventing Muslims from killing Buddhists. The monk prohibited the Buddhists from attacking the Muslims in that ward, saying that Muslims and Buddhists had been living together in the area for a long time and had never had any problems.19 Eventually,20 the owner of the construction company found out about the rumour and approached local CSO leaders to ask for their help in dispelling the rumour. He apparently wanted to dispel the rumour both because it was untrue and because he wanted to keep the situation in the city stable. At the same time, young people from various youth volunteer groups– both Buddhists and Muslims from the area where the knives were allegedly being produced and Muslims from the area where the rumour was circulating – fact-checked the rumour and found out that the weapons had not been ordered and were not being manufactured. The CSO leaders, the construction company owner, youth groups, and religious leaders acted quickly to stop the rumour spreading. The young people communicated to religious leaders that the rumour was untrue. One evening21 around 6pm, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian religious leaders, CSOs, young people, trusted people of good public standing in their communities (myo mi myo pa), and people who work as freelance journalists for a number of news organisations came together to meet. The myo mi myo pa led the meeting because they had widely accepted positions of authority within the community. The construction company owner was present and informed the meeting’s participants directly that the rumour was not true. Within a few hours—by approximately 8pm—the participants had produced an announcement stating that the rumour was not true. This announcement was signed by three Muslim religious leaders, three Buddhist religious leaders, and two myo mi myo pa, all of whom provided their phone numbers next to their signatures. The announcement was scanned and circulated online, and photocopied and distributed throughout the area. Religious leaders and the myo mi myo pa also shared this information back to their communities, through other informal networks. Copies of the announcement are on file with the authors. According to the interviewees, this coming together of communities and the announcement that the rumour was untrue seemed to calm the situation. 18 One interviewee said 100, one said 300. Female, 25 years old, Muslim. 20 We were not able to determine exactly how much time elapsed between the initial circulation of the rumour and the response described here. 21 Again, accounts differed as to how long after the rumour had begun circulating this meeting was convened. 19 6/24