Current location:Worldly Window news portal > health
Junta forces Rohingyas to protest ethnic rebels in Myanmar’s Rakhine state — Radio Free Asia
Worldly Window news portal2024-05-21 16:00:54【health】3People have gathered around
IntroductionJunta authorities in western Myanmar forced hundreds of Rohingya Muslims to protest an ethnic rebel
Junta authorities in western Myanmar forced hundreds of Rohingya Muslims to protest an ethnic rebel offensive that has the military on the ropes in Rakhine state – and fining them if they didn’t participate, residents said Monday.
It’s the latest bid by the junta to stoke ethnic tensions in the region, where a military clearance operation in 2017 killed thousands of Rohingyas and sent nearly 1 million fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Authorities have been pressing those who remain in a patchwork of villages and camps for the displaced into military service in recent weeks.
A participant in Monday’s protest said authorities forced around 1,000 Rohingyas from Rathedaung township’s Bar Sar Ra village and Bu May village in the state capital Sittwe to hold signboards denouncing the ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, and call for an end to the conflict or face fines and other punishment.
"If we don’t take part in the protests, we will have to pay 50,000 kyats (US$1.40) per household, and our village will be cut off as punishment,” said the protest participant who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns.
“We all fear such threats, and we cannot afford to pay this fine as all of us are facing various hardships in our daily lives. So, we had no option but to join the protest,” he told RFA Burmese.
The Rohingyas were also made to sign a petition saying that they don’t want the region to be governed by the AA, which has seized six of Rakhine’s 17 townships and several smaller towns since launching an offensive against the military on Nov. 13, 2023.
As of early April, the AA had captured some 170 junta camps and posts, as well as several larger bases, battalion headquarters, and training facilities in Rakhine state.
Earlier protests
Monday’s protest follows similar ones in Sittwe on March 21 and in Buthidaung township on March 19 – both of which included hundreds of Rohingyas.
Rohingya elders thwarted a protest scheduled to take place in Maungdaw township last month, a resident told RFA.
Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin said that the protests were orchestrated by the junta in Rakhine state.
"We have learned that the state police commander forced Rohingyas to stage the protests,” he said. “He [the commander] organized a meeting with the local elders and ordered them to take part in the protest with at least one person from each household.”
Nay San Lwin expressed concern that junta pressure could lead to communal conflicts between Rakhine and Rohingya people in the state.
Also on Monday, around 30 junta troops entered Munaung township’s Thit Pon village and forced villagers to sign a petition against the AA, according to residents.
A Munaung resident, who also declined to be named, told RFA that villagers were scared and could not refuse.
“They [the junta soldiers] went to Thit Pon village and held a village meeting,” he said. “They forced us to make signboards that said ‘The AA is not welcome.’ If we refused, we would have been arrested and they would have fired artillery at our village.”
Repeated attempts by RFA to contact Attorney General Hla Thein, the junta spokesperson for Rakhine state, for more information about the protests went unanswered Monday.
The AA accused the junta in late March of creating racial and religious conflict in Rakhine state with protests to divert public attention from military defeats in the region.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Address of this article:http://www.camilleandconfettis.com/html-59e899060.html
Very good!(33)
Related articles
- Kevin Pillar gets 1,000th career hit in Angels' win at Texas
- Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future
- Country star Cindy Walker posthumously inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame
- Mississippi governor signs law to set a new funding formula for public schools
- Rangers are undefeated at .500 to keep World Series champs from a losing record with Bochy
- The Latest
- New 10,000
- Pregnant Jenna Dewan shops for baby clothes in LA after accusing ex
- Justin Timberlake set to bring his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour to Australia in 2025
- UC president recommends UCLA pay Cal Berkeley $10 million per year for 6 years
Popular articles
- Socialite Jasmine Hartin enjoys beach snuggle with electrician hunk
- A look at what passed and failed in the 2024 legislative session
- Hopes are fading for 44 workers still missing days after South Africa building collapse; 9 are dead
- 2 climbers reported missing on California's Mount Whitney are found dead
Recommended
The government wants to buy their flood
The Philadelphia Phillies are hot, loose and loving life as one of the best teams in baseball
Life after Florida Georgia Line: Brian Kelley is ready to reintroduce himself with new solo album
Drake shares cryptic post amid ugly feud with Kendrick Lamar
Trump accepts a VP debate but wants it on Fox News. Harris has already said yes to CBS
Chevrolet Malibu heads for the junkyard as GM shifts focus to EVs
Harris congratulates HBCU graduates in video message for graduation season
With contestants ditching English language songs to 'ambivalence' over the Union Jack
Links
- Key projects under construction in Heilongjiang, NE China
- Teenagers in pastoral areas of Tibet attend taekwondo camp
- Xiplomacy: Xi's Remarks at SCO Summit Illustrate China's Commitment to Peace, Development
- Xi Story: Suzhou Embroidery Epitomizes Resilience, Patience, Perseverance of Chinese People
- More potential for Sino
- Construction of mainland
- Chinese power generators improve livelihood in Thailand
- People visit exhibitions at Times Art Museum in Beijing
- Xi Story: Suzhou Embroidery Epitomizes Resilience, Patience, Perseverance of Chinese People
- Boundary question should be placed appropriately in China