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Sinhala nationalists protest outside UN office against Rohingya

Photograph: Daily Mirror

Sinhala Buddhist protestors gathered outside the UN office in Colombo on Wednesday, demanding the expulsion of Rohingya refugees from the island.

Brandishing ‘Sinha Le’ lion flags and a banner of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Buddhist monks from the Sinhale Jathika Balamuluwa (Sinhalese National Force) demanded that Rohingya asylum seekers be deported, labelling them “terrorists”.

The SNF and other Sinhala Buddhist monks led a mod that stormed a UN safe house that was housing Rohingya refugees earlier this week.

“Myanmar Muslim militants had reportedly attacked eighteen Police stations, an Army camp in their country,” said SNF General Secretary Arambepola Rathana. “They have allegedly killed civilians and Buddhist monks in Myanmar. They had run away because of fear to facing the political and civil issues in Myanmar. They are actually a kind of terrorists.”

“If those Rohingya Muslims used to spread terrorism in the country or if someone in our country gets killed by them, how do we take legal actions against them?” the monk continued, complaining that Rohingya children were attending school in the island.

The monk went on to slam the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, stating it was “interfering in the country’s sovereignty”.

See more from the Daily Mirror here.

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