Several thousand Rohingya staged “unruly” protests on Monday against living conditions on a cyclone-prone island off Bangladesh where they were moved from vast camps on the mainland, the police said.
Since December, Bangladesh has shifted 18,000 out of a planned 1,00,000 refugees to the low-lying silt island of Bhashan Char from the Cox’s Bazar region, where around 8,50,000 people live in squalid and cramped conditions.
Monday’s protest involved up to 4,000 people, the police said, and coincided with an inspection visit by officials from the United Nations refugee agency. An international rights activist said several protesters were injured in police action.
A UNHCR spokesperson said the delegation was able to meet with a large group of refugees and to listen to the various issues that they raised, which the delegation will further discuss with the Bangladesh authorities.
