Scores of workers hired by local authorities this morning raided and demolished Morning Star Café, which was located within the Yangon Zoological Garden compound. Authorities said the demolition comes several years after the café was first ordered to close in 2013.
The demolition workers numbered around 200, according to Eleven. They were hired by YCDC and the Yangon Region Forestry Department, which owns the land on which the zoo and café are situated. The compound is located at the northeast corner of Upper Pansodan Road and Bo Min Yaung Road.
During the raid, the workers forcibly removed all items belonging to the café.
In August 2013, local authorities ordered the café to close or relocate. The owners of the café reportedly ignored this and several subsequent orders.
Forestry Department deputy director Win Maw told Eleven: “The rental contract of Morning Star Café expired a long time ago. We stopped collecting payments from the café four years and two months ago. We had to resort to this [demolition] because they refused to follow the rules. We actually tried to do this earlier, but the plan was put on temporary hold by the government earlier this year.”
Morning Star Café had a score of 4/5 on Facebook. One reviewer wrote recently: “We are the devotees, and Morning Star Cafe is our shrine. The paragon of Burmese breakfast food and excellent Burmese cuisines for lunch!”
Police are now searching for Kyaw Soe Moe, the alleged owner of the café.
In a similar event this morning, Yangon authorities demolished thousands of homes in a shantytown in Hlegu Township, north of Yangon. It has been named the first major forced eviction under the NLD government.
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