Chief Minister of Kayah state, L Paung Sho, has justified as legal a police crackdown on peaceful protesters demonstrating against a newly inaugurated statue of the country’s independence hero General Aung San in the state capital Loikaw, RFA reported.

He said police upheld due process in handling the rally on Tuesday during which they fired rubber bullets and a water cannon at some of the 5,000 ethnic Karenni protesters, injuring 21 of them.

Protesters had demanded that officials remove or relocate the gold-coloured statue from a public park.

Many accuse the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party of pushing Aung San monuments in ethnic minority states where residents would rather see statues of their own heroes.