Political movements organized a sit-in Thursday outside the Myanmar Embassy in Cairo to denounce the massacre of Muslims in Burma.
The protesters said the killers of the Muslims are terrorists and raised banners reading, “Stop killing Muslims,” “Stop mass murder,” “Down with the military of Burma” and “Get out of the land of the Nile, ambassador of the pigs.”
Former MP Mamdouh Ismail from the Salafi Asala Party participated in the protest. He said that he was not representing any political group and was expressing his personal anger over the massacres of Muslims in Burma and the ban on Muslim prayer. He called on the UN Security Council to quickly take decisive action against Burma.
He said that Egyptian media has been disregarding the massacres, explaining that, “Egyptian media is the media of Tawifik Okasha.” Okasha is the controversial host of a talk show on Al-Faraeen satellite channel who regularly attacks revolutionaries and Islamists and defends the military council.
“We came from Tahrir Square after we heard about this sit-in to send a message to the government of Burma that we will not be silent about the massacre of Muslims,” said Wael Allam, a protester outside the embassy. Allam added that protests would continue until the international community took action against Burma.
Protesters have been sitting-in in Tahrir Square to demand that the ruling military council reverse the decree that limits the powers of President-elect Mohamed Morsy and completely transfer power to a civilian government.
The Rohingya, a Muslim people of South Asian descent, are currently facing what has been called one of the worst instances of sectarian violence in the recent history of Burma, a Buddhist majority country.
More than 80 people have died in clashes between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya this month, the government said, according to AFP.
A number of Rohingyas have tried to flee Burma for the neighboring country of Bangladesh, but most have been refused entry.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
