The US embassy in Yangon has issued an apology after events at the compound on Sunday night brought in police, fire trucks and journalists and generally scared a lot of people.
In a statement released Monday morning, the embassy said it was a routine security drill.
“On the evening of Sunday, July 24, the U.S. Embassy in Yangon held a routine security drill, which inadvertently inconvenienced passers-by and a neighboring business,” the statement said. “No one was injured and embassy operations are running as normal. We apologize to our neighbors and others who were in the area.”
The statement did not mention the alleged use tear gas, which is what Myanmar police pointed to as the source of the problem.
“They were testing tear gas inside the practice grounds of their embassy. Gas came out onto the road in front of the embassy and some people smelled it and informed us,” an officer told AFP, adding that the embassy has apologized for not informing police in advance.
On Sunday night police outside the embassy also said tear gas was involved, and passers-by reported said their eyes were stinging.
“I was affected by it,” Grace Moore told Coconuts Yangon. “Felt like I had been pepper sprayed. I was riding in a taxi and we had to pull over to wash out our eyes along with others on the road.”
There were no injuries and no property was damaged.
While bombings were relatively common under the former junta that stepped down in 2011, such incidents have been rare in recent years.
A series of small blasts rocked the country in October 2013 after they appeared to target tourist spots just as the emergent nation was experiencing a flood of foreign visitors following the end of military rule.
Additional reporting and text by AFP.
