Rohingya refugees from Myanmar mark ‘Genocide Remembrance Day’ in Bangladesh camps
- Thousands of refugees staged rallies to mark 5 years since they fled military offensive, now subject of landmark genocide case at UN court
- ‘Five years ago nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes’

Thousands of Rohingya refugees held ‘Genocide Remembrance Day’ rallies on Thursday across a huge network of camps in Bangladesh, marking five years since fleeing a military offensive in Myanmar.
Today there are nearly a million Rohingya, half of them under the age of 18, in rickety huts in camps where the mud lanes regularly become rivers of sewage during monsoon rains.
Thousands staged rallies in many of the camps on Thursday, holding banners, shouting slogans and demanding a safe return to their home state of Rakhine in western Myanmar.
“Today is the day thousands of Rohingya were killed,” said young leader Maung Sawyedollah with tears in his eyes as he led a rally in Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee settlement.

“Five years ago this day nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes,” he said.
