Brussels: Protesters demand action over Rohingya abuse

By Hasan Esen

BRUSSELS (AA) - A group of people on Wednesday gathered in Brussels to protest against Myanmar’s oppression on Rohingya Muslims.

The protesters at Schuman Square, where the EU's administrative building is located, held placards saying ‘stop genocide’.

They asked international bodies to intervene in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state where nearly 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in a military crackdown.

"The purpose of our gathering here is to ask the EU and human rights organizations to intervene to stop the Rohingya from being killed," a protester, who did not wish to be named, told Anadolu Agency.

Another protester, who also refused to state his name, said the leaders of Muslim-majority countries should urgently unite and act against the abuses.

The demonstrators demanded that the Myanmar government and the military officials be held for trial.

Since Aug. 25, some 507,000 Rohingya have crossed from the Maungdaw area of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women, and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya villages.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.