Myanmar students fight in Thai camp

Myanmar students fight in Thai camp

BANGKOK (AP): The end of Buddhist Lent was marred by a brawl between more than 100 rival Myanmar student and ethnic minority exiles at a camp in Thailand, seriously injuring one refugee, officials said on Tuesday.

The Sunday night fight near the Maneeloy holding center close to the tense Myanmar border comes as Thailand plans to clamp down on exiled students after militants believed to have stayed at the camp stormed the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which supports the more than 1,100 refugees at Maneeloy, has stopped visiting on the advice of Thai authorities because of security concerns, said a UNHCR spokesperson on customary condition of anonymity.

Last week, five UNHCR staffers were locked up for several hours by students in a dispute over the payment of monthly stipends. The incident cast another shadow over the students' future following the embassy siege three weeks ago.