In faraway Chechnya, tens of thousands rally against ‘genocide’ of Rohingya in Myanmar

In an apparent bid to raise his profile as Russia’s most influential Muslim, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of the capital Grozny on Monday to protest what he called the “genocide of Muslims” in Myanmar.

Violence over the past few days in Myanmar’s Rakhine state has killed nearly 400 people and prompted thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.

State television footage showed tens of thousands rallying in Grozny’s main square to support the Rohingya. Chechnya is predominantly Muslim.

In his address to the rally that was interrupted with shouts of “Allahu akbar” (“God is great!” in Arabic), Kadyrov compared the violence against Rohingya to the Holocaust.

Kadyrov, who has ruled the republic for more than a decade, keeps a tight grip on Chechen society, and any public displays there are carefully orchestrated.

Local police authorities reported that 1.1 million people attended the rally, a dubious claim since the entire population of Chechnya is 1.4 million, according to official statistics.