COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Hundreds of children on
Wednesday defied a ban on protests at Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to
mark the fourth anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown which sparked an
exodus across the border, community leaders said.
اضافة اعلان
Thousands of armed police and troops patrolled the camps in
the Cox's Bazar district but did not act against the children.
More than 700,000 Muslim Rohingya, who have long been
persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, fled into Bangladesh after the 2017
clampdown which is the subject of a genocide investigation by the International
Criminal Court.
Children as young as five took part in the surprise
15-minute march in the Kutupalong camp — the world's largest refugee settlement
— to demand justice for the thousands of Rohingya reported killed in the
crackdown.
Community leader Mohammad Osman said between 3,000 and 4,000
children took part, chanting "we want justice" and "we want safe
repatriation". Police said only a few dozen children were involved.
Some women also staged silent
protests in front of their
shanty homes holding placards that read "we want justice", a rights
activist said.
Journalists were not allowed into the camps for the
anniversary.
Bangladesh authorities have banned protests and rallies,
saying they could spread the coronavirus. The pandemic has killed at least 30
Rohingya and infected thousands.
Daily infection numbers have fallen recently and the
government has eased national restrictions but would not allow the Rohingya to
stage even small events Wednesday.
Up to 200,000 Rohingya took part in a commemorative rally in
the camps in 2019.
In Myanmar, where hundreds of thousands more Rohingya also
live in camps, several groups issued statements calling for faster efforts to
prosecute perpetrators of the 2017 military action.
"Four years on justice for the Rohingya remains
shamefully elusive. Not a single individual who committed the heinous crimes
against the Rohingya has been held to account," said Myanmar advocacy
group Progressive Voice.
Myanmar, where a junta took power this year, is not a member
of the ICC. But last week a shadow government of ousted Myanmar lawmakers said
they accepted its jurisdiction to look into the alleged Rohingya genocide and
other crimes.
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