A spark and a fire
In May 2012, the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman, allegedly by Muslim men, was followed by the lynching of ten Muslim pilgrims on a bus. From late May into June, violence spread across multiple townships in Rakhine State. A second, more devastating wave swept through in October, with mobs burning entire Rohingya neighbourhoods.
State complicity
Human-rights investigators documented systematic failures by Myanmar's security forces to protect Rohingya civilians, and in many cases direct participation in arson, killings, and forced displacement. Human Rights Watch concluded that the violence amounted to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
The camps that never closed
By the end of 2012, more than 140,000 people — the vast majority Rohingya — had been pushed into displacement camps around Sittwe and other towns. More than a decade later, many of these camps remain in place: segregated, under-resourced, and effectively closed to the outside world. They became a template for what the entire community would face in 2017.