Muslims stage anti-AA protest in Buthidaung

By Admin 06 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
6 May 2024, Buthidaung

Some 2,000 Muslims took to the streets on Sunday in a protest against the Arakkha Army (AA) in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Town.

Protesters held banners reading “We don’t want the AA”, “We urge ICJ to take action against the AA for massacring Muslims”, “AA, stop using Muslims as human shields!”, “Stop artillery attacks on Muslim villages and wards!”

Muslims gathered outside No. 1 Basic Education High School before staging a protest march.

“They protested because of pressures from the regime,” said a Muslim from Buthidaung.

Sunday’s protest is the third of its kind since March. The second protest took place on April 12.

Muslim communities have said the regime has coerced Muslims in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe towns into staging protests against the AA. The three towns are still under the control of the junta, though the AA has been fighting regime battalions in Buthidaung and Maungdaw.

“Rohingya [Muslims] in Buthidaung Town have to do whatever the regime tells them. The regime has told them to fight. It has told them to protest. Muslims are tortured when they refuse,” said Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition.

An Arakanese politician called for caution, saying the regime is instigating racial tensions.

“The regime will create racial conflict whenever it suffers from military defeat. Both Arakanese and Muslim communities must exercise caution in this period,” he said.

The AA has warned people in Arakan State of the regime’s political ploys, accusing it of creating racial conflicts by forcing Muslims to stage anti-AA protests.

In Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, the regime is not only using Muslim conscripts but also cooperating with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation, Arakan Rohingya Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization to fight the AA.