The police at the Sittwe Township police station have denied a request to hold a demonstration in front of the Bangladesh consulate in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.
Organizer Ko Maung Nu said that police officials in Sittwe Township refused to issue the protest permission on Friday without any solid grounds.
On 5 October, a letter was submitted to the Sittwe police station requesting a permit to hold a rally in front of the Bangladesh consulate.
The protest was to be held in front of the Bangladesh consulate in Sittwe to show solidarity with victims of the Buddhist community in Bangladesh, Ko Maung Nu said.
In Bangladesh, radicalized and extremist Muslim groups set fire to Buddhist temples, Buddhist villages, and Hindu temples in Ramu, Cox’s Bazar, and Chittagong on 29 and 30 September.
“Even though the Township police station refused to issue us a permit for the protest, we have not given up. We are now trying again to get permission from a high authority to hold the protest. We submitted a letter to the Arakan State police station again,” Maung Nu said.
He added that the Arakan State police station has to respond to the request within four days.
According to resident sources, the Sittwe police station also denied a women’s rights group the authorization to hold a rally on a street in Sittwe. The women’s rights group sought permission to protest against the OIC plan to open an office in Sittwe.
