Rohingya Muslims

It urged Burma’s Government to investigate reports of massacres and to hold those involved accountable.

Several hundred Muslim women demonstrated outside Burma’s embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, calling for the Indonesian Government to take a tougher stance against persecution of the Rohingya.

Dozens of armed police have been guarding the embassy, which is cordoned behind barbed wire, after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at it over the weekend.

Protesters, organised by an Islamic group called Friends of Muslim Rohingya, shouted “Save Rohingya”, and held big banners that read, “Unite the people to free Rohingya Muslims” and “Stop Muslim genocide in Myanmar!”

Other protests were staged in major cities across Indonesia, including Bandung and Surabaya.

Over the weekend, protesters in Jakarta set fire to a poster of Suu Kyi outside the Burmese embassy and further protests are set for this week. Local media reported that one group plans to stage a protest at Borobudur, a famous ancient Buddhist temple in central Java.

“The world remains silent in the face of the massacre of Rohingya Muslims,” said Farida, an organiser of the Jakarta protest who uses a single name.

“They have been tortured and killed like animals by Buddhists in Myanmar,” she told the crowd outside the embassy.

“We demand the Government puts pressure on the Buddhist Government of Myanmar. We demand mobilisation of our military to rescue the Rohingya.”