Burma riots: Video shows police failing to stop attack
The Media has obtained police video showing officers standing by while Buddhist rioters attacked minority Muslims in the town of Meiktila.
The footage shows a mob destroying a Muslim gold shop and then setting fire to houses. A man thought to be a Muslim is seen on fire.
It was filmed last month, when at least 43 people were killed in Meiktila.
The EU is expected to decide this week whether to lift sanctions it imposed on Burma over its repression of democracy.
It is thought likely that despite concerns about the treatment of minorities, Brussels will on Monday confirm that sanctions have now permanently lifted, the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports from Singapore.
They were suspended a year ago. An arms embargo is expected to remain in place.
Documented violence
The video from Meiktila, in Mandalay Region, is remarkable both for the comprehensive way it documents the violence and because much of it was shot by the Burmese police themselves, our correspondent says.
In the sequence where policemen look on as a man rolls on the ground having been set on fire, the watching crowd are heard to say, "No water for him - let him die."
Another sequence shows a young man attempting to flee and getting caught, after which he is beaten by a group of men, which includes a monk.
A savage blow with a sword strikes him and he is left on the ground, presumed dead.
Only in one shot are the police seen escorting Muslim women and children away from their burning homes.
The footage corroborates eyewitness testimony. A row at a Muslim-owned gold shop on 20 March was said to have started the violence, when a dispute involving a Buddhist couple selling their jewellery escalated into a fight.
This was followed by an attack on a Buddhist monk, who later died in hospital. News of that incident appeared to have sparked off sustained communal violence.
The violence then spread to other towns and led to curfews being imposed. There were reports of mosques and houses being torched in at least three towns.
The gold shop's owner, his wife and an employee were convicted of theft and assault on 12 April and jailed for 14 months. Dozens of other Muslims and Buddhists are said to be under investigation.
Deadly clashes
Clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state in 2012
Violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in another part of Burma, Rakhine State, last year following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in May.
Clashes in June and October resulted in the deaths of about 200 people. Thousands of people, mainly members of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, fled their homes and remain displaced.
On Monday, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) is due to present what it says is clear evidence of government complicity in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against Muslims in Rakhine state.
HRW said it based its findings on visits to the state and interviews with more than 100 people.
The EU, meanwhile, is expected to lift sanctions in recognition of the "remarkable process of reform" in the country, according to a document seen by Reuters news agency.
Reforms under President Thein Sein, who came to power after elections in November 2010, include freeing hundreds of prisoners - political detainees among them - and introducing more press freedom.
By-elections in April 2012 were also seen as largely free and fair. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for many years, leads a pro-democracy opposition which now has a small presence in parliament after a landslide victory in the by-elections.
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