Bangladesh police detain 450 Rohingya celebrating Eid holiday on beach
Bangladesh police claim it detained more than 450 Rohingya on the second day of Eid Al-Fitr as part of "security measures".
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Bangladesh police detained 450 Rohingya celebrating a Muslim holiday on a beach.
Bangladesh police detained 450 Rohingya celebrating a Muslim holiday on a beach, officials confirmed on Thursday, in a further sign of growing intolerance toward the refugees.
Bangladesh bans the 920,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees from leaving camps surrounded by barbed wire in the southeast where they have been stuck for almost five years.
Most Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a 2017 military offensive in neighboring Myanmar, following a military crackdown that became a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
"Involved in various crimes"
Police Spokesperson Rafiqul Islam told AFP that officers detained "more than 450 Rohingya" in raids in the town of Cox's Bazar late Wednesday on the second day of Eid Al-Fitr, a major Muslim holiday.
Islam claimed the operation was part of "security measures" in the country's largest resort district which attracts millions of tourists during holiday seasons including Eid Al-Fitr.
"Rohingyas are involved in various crimes. It is unsafe for our tourists. We have strengthened the security of the city. As tourists visit Cox's Bazar on Eid al-Fitr, we have stepped up patrols to keep them safe," he claimed.
"We are here for fun... But as soon as we arrived, police caught us. We did not do anything wrong, we just sat on the beach," said Mohammad Ibrahim.
Lives of Rohingya refugees "heavily curbed"
Many in Myanmar see the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali".
The Rohingyas have refused to go back until assured of security and equal rights, which Myanmar has refused to promise.
In recent months, Myanmar authorities have bulldozed about 3,000 shops and dozens of private community-run schools in the camps.
Rezaur Rahman Lenin, a Dhaka-based activist and human rights consultant for the UN Resident Coordinator's Office, underlined that the lives of the refugees are "heavily curbed".
He stressed that "Bangladesh authorities should lift the restrictions on movement, allow markets and schools to reopen, and facilitate donors' efforts to improve refugee access to livelihoods, health care, education and entertainment."
