London, UK: The Rohingya community in the United Kingdom staged two separate demonstrations in front of the Burmese and Thai embassies in London on January 26, Khurshid Ahmed, Joint Secretary and Information Secretary of Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK) said.

The demonstrations were jointly organized by the Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and BROUK, he added.

During the demonstrations, the Rohingya groups protested and condemned the Rohingya extermination policy of the SPDC and the recent inhuman action of the Thai Navy against innocent Rohingya people. The Rohingyas, were innocent and were trying to flee large-scale persecution in Arakan State, and had travelled in search of peace, safe shelter and protection, Ahmed added.

Many Burmese organizations, Burmese support groups and human rights organizations, such as, the Burmese Muslim Association (BMA), Burmese Democratic Movement Association (BDMA), Kachin National Organization (KNO), Burma Democratic Concern (BDC), Burma Campaign UK, Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), and members of other ethnic minorities of Burma and local communities joined the Rohingya groups in the demonstrations, Nurul Islam, ARNO President said.

ARNO President Nurul Islam, BROUK President Tun Khin Ziaul Gaffar, BMA Secretary Hamza Kyaw Zwa, U Aung Kyaw Soe (88 Generation Student leader), U Myo Thein (BDC), Ms. Nang Seng (BCUK), U Gun Taung (KNO),Mr. Osama (IHRC)  were among those who spoke on the occasion, the ARNO President said.

All the speakers, including the representatives of the Burmese and ethnic people's organizations expressed their anger condemning the systematic extermination of the ethnic Rohingya people from their ancestral homeland of Arakan. They all held the SPDC responsible for the missing people or death of at least 500 people after they were forced to drift in the high sea by the Thai Navy in engineless boats, Khurshid said.

Two separate joint statements were issued, with an open letter addressed to Thai Ambassador H.E. Kitti Wasinnondh, and was handed over to the Thai Embassy by Nurul Islam and Tun Khin, following a meeting with First Secretary of the Thai Embassy, Khurshid added.

In the demonstrations, the protestors demanded that the Thai Government and SPDC were:-

To treat the boatpeople in a humane manner and to stop forcing them to risk sinking or drowning;

They would not push back the Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers, including the boatpeople, to Burma where their lives would be in danger;

To conduct an impartial inquiry, and to take appropriate actions against those responsible for the loss of lives and tragedy of the boatpeople

To allow UNHCR access to the Rohingya boatpeople in Thai custody to determine their status or to see if they are in need of international protection;

To try for a 'permanent solution' to the longstanding Rohingya problem and

to stop Rohingya extermination and their expulsion;

To restore Burmese citizenship of the Rohingyas, and lift forthwith all restrictions on their right to education, right to get married and freedom of movement;

To stop religious persecution, destruction of mosques, churches and places of worship, and cease all human rights violations across the country;

To free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo, U Kayw Min, U Khun Tun Oo and all political prisoners;

To start genuinely all inclusive democratic and political process in accordance with the will of the people of Burma, according to their statement.