Woman among two held in Sri Lanka for attack on Rohingya Muslims

COLOMBO: A woman was among two persons arrested today in Sri Lanka for allegedly attacking a group of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar here on Tuesday, police said.

Dozens of protesters from the country's majority Buddhist community led a mob that barged into a UN-run safe house for Rohingya Muslims and attacked them, claiming that they were terrorists and should be sent back to Myanmar.

The police had to relocate about 30 Rohingya Muslims to a safe location following the attack. A 43-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man were arrested after the government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, condemned the conduct of the group of Buddhist monks and ordered the police to arrest the perpetrators.

The government said that the refugees were under the care of UN refugee agency -- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and it was an international obligation on the government to provide facilities to them. The Buddhist group was against Rohingya Muslims being accommodated in the country.

Later, the Rohingya group was taken to the Boossa immigration detention centre near Galle where demonstrators today protested against the Rohingyas. The police have obtained a court order preventing any demonstrations in the vicinity of the Boossa detention camp.

The government has said that no Rohingya refugees have arrived in the country as a result of the ongoing conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine State. In 2008 and 2012, two groups of Rohingya refugees had been rescued from the seas and accorded UNHCR facilities before being repatriated. Nearly 500,000 refugees have crossed the border from Myanmar's Rakhine State since August 25 when a military crackdown was launched following attacks on security forces allegedly by Rohingya militants.