Rohingya refugees of the people, persecuted in Burma, marched to the National Assembly.
(Quebec) About fifty people Rohingya refugees marched through the streets of Quebec's capital on Tuesday to denounce the inaction of the international community, passive in front of abuses suffered by their compatriots who remained in camps in western Burma.
A few minutes before they arrived at the offices of the Department of Immigration and Cultural Communities of Quebec, Sainte-Foy, dead calm. There was no indication the event. The seven or eight police motorcyclists even wondered if they had traveled for nothing. Then they arrived in groups, men in front, wearing white headbands, women in colorful scarves behind them, waving placards.
They were motivated. Within seconds, the details of the march were settled with the Police Service officers of the City of Quebec. The troops were stationed in front of government building, with banners and posters with slogans were inscribed, sometimes French, sometimes in English, "Stop killing of Rohingyas in Burma," " Stop Violence Against Rohingya "," Doing justice to the Rohingyas in Burma, "" Provide emergency treatment to Rohingyas' ... All decorated terrible pictures of battered bodies.
Rapidly, apparently pressed by a sense of urgency, the procession has stormed the tarmac, the men still in front, women behind them, framed by the roar of motorcycle police. Almost at a run, they set off towards the National Assembly.
Impossible for us to translate the speech nor the denunciations launched in the voice during the march, since auctions were recriminations in their original language. "We do the work because there is war in our country," said, in French, Shofi Mohammed, a leader of the protest. "No shows, no one speaks. There is no news on the Rohingyas. "
"In Burma, the killing goes on," said Mohammed Rafique, while trying to keep pace with the march. "The government here does nothing." The Rohingya Muslim minority, are persecuted by the Burmese government. Regularly, they face the Buddhist majority.
Since the beginning of the month, clashes have intensified. Tuesday, the World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that about 90,000 the number of Muslims and Buddhists who fled ethnic violence, according to a dispatch from the Associated Press.
The Rohingya minority, already considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted of the world, would need a rapid response. Food aid was distributed, but the international community must provide a three-month operation, WFP warns.
The Rakhine State, on the border with Bangladesh, where are located the Rohingyas, was placed in a state of emergency by the Burmese military, says Agence France-Presse. Refugees in 37 camps would be organized. Hundreds of them have tried since Monday to reach Bangladesh by boat, but were repelled by the coastguard.
Early this morning, the Rohingyas of Quebec take the route to Ottawa. They will join their countrymen in Ontario for another event that will take them outside the embassies of Burma and Bangladesh, and ending before the House of Commons.
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