Photo: Collected
A large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention center in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on Wednesday (27 December), demanding that hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar be deported, according to Reuters footage.
A Banda Aceh city police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The students, many of whom were wearing green jackets, were seen running into the building's large basement space, where crowds of Rohingya men, women, and children were seated on the floor and crying in terror. As the protesters looked on, the Rohingya were led out, some carrying their belongings in plastic sacks, and loaded onto trucks.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it in a statement it was "deeply disturbed to see a mob attack on a site sheltering vulnerable refugee families, [the] majority being children and women" and called for better protection.
"The mob broke a police cordon and forcibly put 137 refugees on two trucks, and moved them to another location in Banda Aceh. The incident has left refugees shocked and traumatized," it said.
It added the attack was the result of a coordinated online campaign of misinformation and hate speech.
Rohingya refugees have experienced increasing hostility and rejection in Indonesia as locals grow frustrated at the numbers of boats arriving with the ethnic minority, who face persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has blamed the recent surge in arrivals on human trafficking, and pledged to work with international organisations to offer temporary shelter.
Messenger/Sun Yath
