Yangon , Myanmar ( CNN ) -- Residents of the city in central Myanmar where clashes between Buddhists and the Muslim minority killed dozens of people last week struggled to resume their daily lives on Monday with a state of emergency still in place . Even as an uneasy calm prevailed in Meiktila , the city at the heart of the unrest , police reported fresh arson attacks on Muslim properties in other areas , showing the challenges Myanmar authorities face in reining in communal tensions in this nascent democracy . A group of Buddhists on Saturday night torched 65 houses and religious buildings in Yemethin Township , which is about 40 kilometers south of Meiktila and not under a state of emergency , according to Lt. Col. Aung Min , a spokesman for the Myanmar Police Force . And on Sunday night , smaller outbreaks of arson took place in other towns further south , including Okpo and Tatkon , he said . The attacks over the weekend caused property damage , but did n't result in any deaths , Aung Min said . That contrasts with the violence in Meiktila last week , which killed at least 32 people , according to the New Light of Myanmar , a state-run newspaper . In the Meiktila clashes , which were reportedly set off by a dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and two Buddhist sellers , rioters set fire to houses schools and mosques , prompting thousands of residents to flee their homes . State of emergency . As the violence threatened to spiral out of control , authorities declared a state of emergency on Friday , which allows the military to help reinstate order . Police confiscated weapons such as swords and machetes from groups of Buddhists -- some of them monks -- who were roaming the streets , officials said . As authorities began to clear up after the mayhem , they found more than 20 bodies so badly burned they could n't be identified , the New Light of Myanmar reported . The newspaper said Sunday the unrest had left 8,707 people living in temporary shelters such as a soccer stadium and a monastery in Meiktila , a lakeside city about 130 kilometers north of the administrative capital , Naypyidaw . But Win Htein , an opposition member of parliament for the area , on Monday gave a higher estimate for the number of people displaced by the unrest , saying 10,000 Muslims and 7,000 Buddhists had been driven from their homes . `` We are facing the problem of not having enough food and blankets , '' he said . At the same time , he said , the overall situation in the city had improved , with shops starting to reopen . Win Htein had said last week that he believed that most of those killed in the violence were Muslims . Police have detained a total of 36 people in relation to the recent clashes in Meiktila and other towns , Aung Min said Monday . Concerns after previous unrest . The United Nations and the United States have both expressed concern about the recent violence in Myanmar , which is emerging from decades of military repression and has taken a number of significant steps toward democracy in recent years under President Thein Sein . The sudden boiling over of tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar follows sectarian troubles that killed scores of people in the west of the country last year . Those clashes , in Rakhine State , took place between the Buddhist majority and the Rohingya , a stateless ethnic Muslim group . Most of the victims in that unrest were Rohingya . Tens of thousands more were left living in makeshift camps , and many of them have since joined those who attempt each year to flee to Thailand and Malaysia in flimsy boats . READ MORE : Armed Buddhists , including monks , clash with Muslims in Myanmar . Journalist Phyo Wai Lin reported from Yangon , CNN 's Kocha Olarn reported from Bangkok , Thailand , and CNN 's Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong .
Authorities have imposed a state of emergency in Meiktila . Communal violence there has left 32 dead and thousands displaced . Arson attacks on Muslim properties took place in other towns over the weekend . Last year , ethnic unrest in western Myanmar killed scores of people .