The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Wednesday said that it was alarmed by a mob attack on Rohingya Muslim refugees in Sri Lanka, where government leaders called for stern legal action against perpetrators that included Buddhist monks.
On Tuesday, a group led by Buddhist monks stormed a UN-run safe house for Rohingya Muslims, claiming the residents were terrorists and demanding that they be sent back to Myanmar, prompting police to relocate the refugees.
Dozens of protesters from Sri Lanka’s majority Buddhist community led a mob to a multistory house at Mount Lavinia on the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital.
In a statement, the UN agency said it was “alarmed and concerned” by Tuesday’s incident and urged the “public and all those concerned with refugees to continue extending protection and to show empathy for civilians fleeing persecution and violence.”
Police on Tuesday took 31 Rohingya refugees, including 17 children, into custody and moved them to a safe location.
A video clip posted by nationalist group Sinhala National Movement on Facebook shows protesters calling the Rohingya “terrorists who killed Buddhists in Myanmar” and saying that they cannot live in Sri Lanka.
On Wednesday, Sri Lankan Minister of Media Mangala Samaraweera condemned the attack, describing it as a “shameful act,” and called for strong action against the perpetrators.
Sri Lankan Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine Rajitha Senaratne said he was depressed by the attack and urged law enforcement authorities to arrest the attackers.
Sri Lankan Buddhists make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million people, while Muslims account for 10 percent.
Nearly a half-million Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh in the past year, most of them since Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgent attacks on Burmese security forces prompted a military crackdown and reprisals by majority Buddhists.
Rohingya have long faced persecution and discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where the government denies them citizenship and considers them illegal immigrants.
Extremist Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka have ties with their counterparts in Myanmar and monks in both countries have been accused of leading attacks on minority Muslims.
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