Following reports of the alleged torture, raping, and killing of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, citizens and human rights groups in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have staged protests in front of the Myanmar embassies in each of their home countries.
Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono told the Associated Press that there were at least 200 people present at the demonstration outside of the Myanmar Embassy in the Indonesian capital. The protestors marched in three groups, holding banners that read ‘Stop Rohingya Genocide’ and shouting ‘Save Rohingya.’
In Kuala Lumpur, hundreds of Rohingya Muslims also staged protests against the Myanmar government’s alleged abuses in Rakhine. They were joined by various NGO’s.
In Bangkok, representatives of over 20 Muslim groups also called for an end to the violence in a letter that they presented to a Myanmar embassy official.
These protests comes on the heels of a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State following a series of deadly attacks on several border guard posts. Since then, stories of security officers abusing Rohingya residents and torching their villages have spread on social media, although nothing has been officially verified.
In the past, rights groups have condemned the Myanmar government for trying to inflame the nation’s fears of an Islamisation of the country.
In the wake of this violence, many of the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine have risked their lives trying to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, only to be sent back.
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