Angry mourners mass in riot-hit Myanmar city

In grief: Ko Htwe, who was injured in the clashes, sitting near a coffin holding the body of his slain Buddhist friend before the funeral service in Mandalay. - AFP

MANDALAY: Thousands of people, some wielding sticks, flooded Myanmar’s second-largest city as tensions spiked during the funeral of a victim of Buddhist-Muslim clashes that have raised fears of spreading violence.

A procession led by scores of motorcycles carried the coffin of the 36-year-old slain Buddhist man through the heart of Mandalay yesterday, as anger grew following unrest in which a Muslim man was also killed.