KUALA LUMPUR: Over a thousand Rohingya and Myanmar Muslims staged a boisterous protest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday. They condemned the Myanmar government for not acting against what they say is an ongoing assault against Islam by Buddhists in the country.
They were reacting to reports that Buddhist monks in Myanmar had carried anti-Islamic posters at a rally held earlier this month. Friday's protest in Kuala Lumpur was backed by the youth wing of Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, PAS.
Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, president of Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organizations, said: "We will call for the ASEAN to take action. We will call the Malaysian government to re-examine diplomatic relations with Myanmar. We will call on Malaysia to re-examine its investment in Myanmar."
Protestors wanted to give the Myanmar ambassador a memorandum of protest, but embassy officials reportedly declined to meet representatives. They carried banners with the words 'Stop Insulting Islam' and 'Respect Each Other and Every Religion' and shouted 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah Is Great).