Squatters said they are facing difficulties as the Myanmar Military Council is forcibly removing their illegal houses from alongside the railway line in Mandalay.

"This is a difficult time. Some have been removed and some have not yet. We try to stay here as much as we can but we were removed today because authorities used bulldozers and also prisoner transport vehicles,” a squatter told Mizzima.

The Military Council ordered the removal of the illegal houses along the Mandalay railway and also the shops that were opened by the permission of the ward administration.

"We opened the shop with the permission of the ward administrator. Now, we have to remove it. We cannot appeal for that. We are poor but we did not suffer difficulties before. Now we are really facing big difficulties," a shopkeeper said.

Mandalay City Municipal Committee under the junta regime removed the illegal squatter houses along Mandalay-Lashio railway and Mahar Myaing and southern part of Ye Mon wards from Mahar Aung Myay township by using the bulldozers and with the help of junta armed forces.