Thousands march for Rohingya
THOUSANDS of Muslims took to the streets along with the Muslim Judicial Council and other local faith-based organisations to raise awareness of the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
The march started Keizersgracht and ended at the gates of Parliament.
Violence erupted in Myanmar late last year after military forces started a huge crackdown on the minority Rohingya Muslims in the country. The crackdown came in response to an attack on border police camps by unidentified insurgents and has resulted in large-scale human rights violations.
The past year has seen more than 370 000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh with more than 400 people dying and around 160 000 displaced. The UN reported earlier this month that more than 120 000 Rohingya people had fled Myanmar for Bangladesh.
“Today we gather with our hearts broken to see how many innocent people have died,” said the deputy president of the MJC, Moulana Abdul Khaliq Allie.
“We are saying to South Africa and to our government to please take up this responsibility to speak in favour of the well-being of humanity.”
The MJC women’s forum addressed the march saying that a “genocide” was happening.
Cosatu’s provincial secretary-general, Tony Ehrenreich, who was also present, said: “It is unacceptable that the UN is not standing up against this abuse. As workers, we are going to take action.”
A demonstrator caused a stir with a poster that read: “Bravo MJC against Burmese atrocities against Rohingya but…. ssshh No MJC marches against Saudi Atrocities in Yemen.”–