Porn video shot at Myanmar's holy site angers citizens

A 12-minute porn video shot by an Italian couple at Myanmar's tourist hot-spot Bagan has enraged the country's citizens. Bagan, which is home to over 3,000 pagodas and temples dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries, is a UNESCO world heritage site which attracts a large number of tourists every year.

The porn video by the couple was uploaded on popular porn website Pornhub.com on Thursday, generating hundreds and thousands of views soon after. The news of the porn video led to an outrage among locals in the country.

The video shows the couple removing their clothes and getting raunchy next to an ancient pagoda. "Our Bagan pagodas are The Holy Land," one observer, Mg Khin Gyi, wrote on a Facebook post that also carried a number of angry emojis.

According to a report in The Irrawaddy, both foreigners and locals are prohibited from wearing shorts or inappropriate dresses, especially at pagodas, temples and religious buildings.

Myanmar also prohibits inappropriate behaviour such as kissing in religious buildings or on their grounds. "We were shocked by that video and feel terribly sad.

Having sex outdoors and at religious buildings and pagodas is intolerable? Moreover, it was in Bagan, our precious heritage of religion, culture and history," said Ko Myo Sat San of Save Bagan, a civil society group here, was quoted as saying.

"These two foreign tourists are individual travellers who came on their own itinerary. Whoever they are and with whatever agenda they bring, they should respect the host country's religion and culture. Their behaviour is totally inappropriate and insulting to the country," Ko Myo Sat San said.

While some said that the incident suggests that security around the place need to be tightened, others urged government authorities to act quickly to identify tourists and put more effort into promoting responsible tourism.