Around 30 Burmese nationals, most of them Arakanese, staged a demonstration in front of Thai Consulate in New York on Friday demanding justice for two Arakanese migrant workers who were arrested for murder in Thailand according to Ko Khaing Ba Khine, one of the event's organisers.
The demonstrators assembled in front of the Consulate General of Thailand for two hours from 2 pm. They urged the Thai government in Bangkok to fairly handle the case of two Arakanese youths who are accused of murdering two British citizens, David Miller, 25 and Hannah Witheridge, 23 on the Thai island of Koh Tao on 15th September.
The youths, Maung Zaw Lin and Maung Win Zaw Tun, who lived on Koh Tao, are facing charges of the robbery, rape and murder.
The demonstrators argued that the accused Arakanese youths had been made scapegoats in the case and that they do not appear to be the real culprits. They shouted slogans like "We Want Justice" and "Thank You Thai People for Standing for Justice"
Ko Than Tun Aung, another protest organiser claimed that migrant workers from Burma (Myanmar) always face ill-treatment from the Thai authorities. He said the Thais have a general tendency to accuse Burmese workers of all kinds of crimes.
Earlier, on 12th October, the Arakan National Party (ANP) urged the Burmese government in Naypyitaw and the Burmese embassy in Bangkok to help protect Maung Zaw Lin and Maung Win Zaw Tun from unjust punishment. The ANP leaders are also making arrangements to help the youths' relatives visit them in prison in Thailand.
The ANP vice president U Phoe Min told Narinjara News that his party would try its best to prove the Arakanese youths' innocence. He pointed out that often when violence has erupted in northern Thailand the government in Bangkok has a habit of blaming poor migrant Burmese workers.
