None in Meiktila will ever forget the day their town became a killing field.

MAN (Translation):  I didn't know what to do. I just thought "I'm going to be dead."

As Buddhist mobs rampaged through the streets, torching homes and mosques, Muslims hid in fear of their lives. 

WOMAN (Translation): When they kill a Muslim, they say "Burma is our country, Burma is our country." They repeat that and they kill us.

For generations Muslims and Buddhists have lived here in peace. But after three days of unimaginable terror, more than 60 Muslims lay dead and hundreds more had fled.  Central to the beliefs of Myanmar's largely Buddhist population is the principle of non-violence. But as the country emerges from 50 years of military dictatorship, a darker type of Buddhism is emerging with it - one that preaches a stark anti-Muslim message and threatens the country's transition to democracy.  

I've come to the hill town of Kalaw where hundreds of people have gathered. They're here to welcome the man described by some as the neo-Nazi monk, Ashin Wirathu. As he breaches, the softly spoken monk is the embodiment of serenity and composure. But his lesson is one of hate and intolerance towards Muslims. 

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation): They target women every day and rape them. Starting from today, do we need to protect the religion or not?

CROWD (Translation): Yes, your Reverence.

Wirathu once referred to himself as the Buddhist Bin Laden. He has thousands of followers on YouTube and Facebook and villages throughout Myanmar. He spreads his anti-Islamic message through a group called the 969 Movement. The government has banned the group but Wirathu defiantly carries on.

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation): Snakes are poisonous wherever they are. You can't underestimate a snake just because there's only one. It's dangerous wherever it is. Muslims are just like that.

Many fear Wirathu's sentiments are fuelling growing sectarian tension across Myanmar. One of the most recent and brutal attacks was in Meiktila, in Central Myanmar. A dispute broke out between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customer. The Buddhists claim the customer was beaten by the Muslim. In revenge, his shop was attacked. Video shows police standing by as the violence escalates and the crowd goes on a rampage.

AHMED (Translation):  We started hearing voices from the street.

19-year-old Ahmed, fearing reprisals, doesn't want to show his face on camera. He was in an Islamic school when the mob gathered outside. Terrified, he and other students fled and hid. 

AHMED (Translation):  Then a huge crowd came and set the school on fire and they also burned the rich people's houses.

Samira was also trying to hide when she was separated from her husband and 9-year-old daughter, Min. Min and her father were caught by the mob. 

SAMIRA (Translation):  They asked us to lie face down on the ground and tied our hands. They beat Dad with an iron pipe. They put us on a bench and asked if anybody else was hiding. My dad was worried that I would say something wrong so he answered for me. They hit him and blood poured from his mouth.

At the same time, police arrived to help Ahmed and the other students escape from their hiding place. 

AHMED (Translation):  Someone told us, "Don't go that way, because it will get worse up ahead. "You'll all be killed. "

While a crowd of people watched on, groups of students had to pass through the waiting mob. 

AHMED (Translation):  In the first one there were about 15 students, they were all beaten, they were the first to go and the first to be beaten. If they fell down, their bodies were covered with leaves and they poured petrol on them and burned them, still alive. One of the students had his head chopped off. Burn the guy on the other side. Motherfuckers!

After lying to protect his daughter, Samira's husband was led away.

SAMIRA (Translation):  They said he was set on fire while he was still alive.

68 Muslims were killed. Most of them were set on fire. Many while they were still alive.  This is Meiktila today. The Muslim quarter is completely burnt out and abandoned. Its residents now live in a refugee camp at the outskirts of town. The atmosphere here is still tense. I'm told we are risking arrest if we get out of the car to film. I'm here with Muslim lawyer Aung Thein who was in Meiktila the day the riots erupted. 

AUNG THEIN, LAWYER (Translation): They came in cars.  They had whistles, they were systematic, they had demolition tools and iron bars and they weren't stopped, nor was there any punishment.

While suspicion remains about whether a higher force is behind the violence, Aung Thein believes the attackers were influenced by Wirathu's nationalist rhetoric. He had been preaching his message of race hate in Meiktila some months before. 

AUNG THEIN (Translation):  When Wirathu came here they organised the function and distributed the DVDs and literature.

Wirathu denies he or his supporters have incited riots.

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation):  All the riots were provoked by Muslims. Muslims started it. Otherwise, there would have been no riots and I and my sermons would not have been accused.. Actually, it wasn't murder. The Buddhists were threatened, and it was self-defence that got out of control.

I've arranged to meet Wirathu at his Masoyein Monastery in Mandalay. Here, he oversees the training of thousands of novice monks and nearby the education of school students.

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation): In Burmese culture, forgiving, giving love, kindness... that's our culture.

It's a sentiment he clearly doesn't extend to the Muslim population. 

REPORTER:  The Muslim's are only 5% of the population, in what way are they creating a problem for Buddhists?

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation): They will ask for an Islamic state and I worry they will set up a Muslim country. That with their population they will apply pressure by intermarrying and swallowing the other population.

He sees Muslim trouble-makers everywhere. 

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation): That mosque...The guy from that mosque married a Burmese woman and forced her to step on Buddha's image in that mosque.

And is lobbying hard for a law that would restrict Buddhist women from marrying Muslims - Wirathu says he receives daily complaints from Buddhists about Muslims. 

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation):  They write or come in person or ring me. That's what I have to face every day. I hear mainly of rape cases.

Despite the hate speech, the spokesman for reformist president Thein Sein defended Wirathu as a son of Lord Buddha, spreading the message of peace and love. It's this kind of official backing that has many Muslims believing Wirathu has top-level support.

Aung Myo Lwin Agga is a member of Myanmar's Islamic Council, he says Meiktila wasn't an isolated local issue but in fact one of over 20 attacks on Muslim communities across Central Myanmar in over a week. 

AUNG MYO LWIN AGGA, ISLAMIC COUNCIL (Translation): These all began after Meiktila. That's going to be Yemethin. This is very close to Naypyidaw.

All, he says, were carried out by an organised mob that the police did not attempt to stop. 

AUNG MYO LWIN AGGA (Translation): They are making a bargain the bargain is don't kill people we allow you to destroy the mosque.
 

Since Burma's reformist government took power, Agga's records show a staggering 60 mosques have been destroyed. 

AUNG MYO LWIN AGGA (Translation):  Who can be brainwashing these people to suddenly kill our neighbours, each other? That is what we have to find out.
 

It's now become a key issue threatening the democratic transition. Why won't the authorities - who for decades brutally suppressed all opposition - stop the violence and rein in Wirathu? 

MAUNG ZARNI:  Neo-Nazism with the mask of Buddhism is what Wirathu stands for.

 
Maung Zarni is an academic who has been following Wirathu's progress very closely. He's certain that support for the monk goes all the way to the top ranks of the military.

MAUNG ZARNI:  The Wirathu phenomenon is not just simply a whacky neo-Nazi shaven-head monk running wild and the racist society responding positively to his hate messages. He has the full force of the entire armed forces and different institutions of the state behind this campaign.

If the military or sections of it are behind the violence, then the ultra nationalist Wirathu wittingly or otherwise is supporting their purpose. It's a view shared by U Vandavimsa, a senior Buddhist monk, who spent 12 years in prison for opposing Myanmar's military rule. He also recently protected many of the Muslims under attack. 

U VANDAVIMSA, SENIOR BUDDHIST MONK (Translation):  We can say that the old regime, which still has one or two ministers in the current government, is involved. 

REPORTER:  And why are they doing this? What do they want? 

U VANDAVIMSA (Translation):  They want their possessions and they want their power back. That's what they are defending and protecting. They're not taxed on what they own.  A lot of ministers acquired property unethically, and they have billions.  For them, it's okay if the country goes back to military rule.  That's their aim. These people don't want Myanmar to be democratic.

In 2015, Myanmar will go to the polls in an election that's a crucial step in the transition towards democracy. Many believe attacks on Muslims will increase as sections of the military attempt to sabotage the popularity of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. 

U VANDAVIMSA (Translation):  If she favours Muslims, Burmese Buddhists won't support her. If she sides with the Burmese Buddhists, Islamic people will not support her. So she needs to straddle both sides of a difficult problem. That's why she hasn't said much about this issue because she was aware of their plot.

Wirathu insists he has no military or political backing but he is keen to try and tarnish Aung San Suu Kyi with his anti-Muslim brush. 

ASHIN WIRATHU (Translation): Aung San Suu Kyi came back from America. At the airport she rode in their car.  She came to Mandalay. At the airport she only rode in a Muslim car.

Myanmar's second city, Mandalay, has been home to Muslims for centuries, yet many here now live in fear. In the Muslim quarter, these religious leaders agree to talk to me if I don't reveal their identities. They too believe these attacks are not spontaneous.

RELIGIOUS LEADER:  In my opinion this is just a political game, if I have a chance to use the word I would say it is like a state sponsored terrorism.

REPORTER:  This is very dangerous.

RELIGIOUS LEADER:  If Muslims go to an extreme way and they make suicide bombing the problem will be, you know, more clashes. The Buddhist extremist will attack the Muslim and the Muslims will attack the Buddhists. The Burmese military they use this word many times "we have no option we have to take care of our country we have to take power again"

Back in Meiktila, life will never be the same. Samira can't leave the house to work for fear her daughters will be killed in a future attack. 

SAMIRA (Translation):   There are many possible ways in which this might happen again. We can't think "Things have settled down." So we can't have peace in a situation like this. We live like scared crows.

While the government remains unwilling to stem the violence and the rhetoric, many Muslims will continue to cower in fear.

Reporter/Camera
EVAN WILLIAMS

Producer
VICTORIA STROBL

Researchers
EVE LUCAS
ASHLEY HAMER

Fixers
JOSHUA MIN HTUT
HTOO TAY ZAR

Editor
NICK O'BRIEN

Translations/Subtitling
TERRELL OUNG

Original Music Composed by 

VICKI HANSEN