Bangladesh stops pro-Rohingya protest march to
border
AFP | December 18, 2016
Thousands of Muslims gathered in front of
Dhaka's Baitul Mukarram national mosque, chanting slogans and carrying placards
denouncing Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi.
DHAKA: Police in the Bangladeshi
capital Dhaka on Sunday stopped thousands of Islamists from marching to the
border with Myanmar to protest at a crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority
in that country.
The military campaign in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine
has sent 27,000 Rohingya fleeing into Bangladesh, with survivors recounting
horrific stories of mass murder, gang rape and torture at the hands of troops.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long discriminated against the
stateless Rohingya and the recent crisis has galvanised protests in Muslim
countries around the region.
Thousands of Muslims belonging to the Islami Andolan
Bangladesh party gathered in front of Dhaka’s Baitul Mukarram national mosque,
chanting slogans and carrying placards denouncing Myanmar’s Nobel laureate and
de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Local police chief Rafiqul Islam told AFP that at least
6,000 people had arrived for the march towards the southeastern border.
“But it came to a halt as we mutually discussed the march
would hamper public life,” he said.
Party officials however accused the police of “forcefully”
stopping and arresting them.
“They (police) stopped our activists and randomly arrested
many of us. We strongly condemn such actions of the administration,” party
spokesman Atiqur Rahman said.
In the past two months Bangladesh has stepped up patrols and
border guards have prevented hundreds of boats packed with Rohingya refugees
from entering the country.
The Bangladesh government has come under pressure from Muslim
groups and the opposition to open its border to the fleeing Rohingya.
More than 230,000 Rohingya are already living in Bangladesh,
most of them illegally, although around 32,000 are formally registered as
refugees.