PROTEST. Myanmar Buddhist monks rally on the streets of Mandalay on September 2, 2012 as they support the country's president, Thein Sein, and protest against the UN over the recent violence in Rakhine state, a western part of Myanmar. Fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state has left almost 90 people from both sides dead since June, according to an official estimate, although rights groups fear the real toll is much higher. Speaking a dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen by the Myanmar government and many Burmese as illegal immigrants.