ASIAN MIGRATION | Hundreds of residents protest arrival of Rohingya refugees by sea
PHOTO: AP
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SABANG (AP) – More than 200 people protested against the continued arrival of Rohingya refugees by boat on an island in Indonesia.
Over 1,500 Rohingya, who fled violent attacks in Myanmar and now are leaving camps in neighbouring Bangladesh in search of better lives, have arrived in Aceh off the tip of Sumatra since November. The protesters, many of them residents and students, called on authorities and the United Nations refugee agency to remove all Rohingya refugees from Sabang island.
They also want humanitarian organisations helping the refugees to leave. The latest arriving boat carried 139 Rohingya, including women and children.
“Our demand is to reject them all. They must leave. Because Sabang people are also having a hard time, they cannot accommodate any more people,” said one protester Samsul Bahri.
Last week, Indonesia appealed to the international community for help. Indonesia once tolerated such landings of refugees, while Thailand and Malaysia pushed them away.
But the growing hostility of some Indonesians toward the Rohingya has put pressure on President Joko Widodo’s government to take action.
