RELIGION

Myanmar hard-line Buddhists protest citizenship for Rohingya

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Hard-line Buddhists walk through a street during a protest march, led by Rakhine State's dominant Arakan National Party, against the government's plan to give citizenship to some members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority community in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar, Sunday, March 19, 2017. Many Rohingya lived in Sittwe, the state capital, before an outbreak of inter-communal violence in 2012 forced them to flee their homes. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) (The Associated Press)

Hard-line Buddhists including monks walk through a street during a protest march, led by Rakhine State's dominant Arakan National Party, against the government's plan to give citizenship to some members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority community in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar, Sunday, March 19, 2017. Many Rohingya lived in Sittwe, the state capital, before an outbreak of inter-communal violence in 2012 forced them to flee their homes. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) (The Associated Press)

Hard-line Buddhists including monks walk by a mosque during a protest march, led by Rakhine State's dominant Arakan National Party, against the government's plan to give citizenship to some members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority community in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar, Sunday, March 19, 2017. Many Rohingya lived in Sittwe, the state capital, before an outbreak of inter-communal violence in 2012 forced them to flee their homes. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) (The Associated Press)

Hundreds of hard-line Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious violence have protested against the government's plan to give citizenship to some members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority community.

Rakhine state's dominant Arakan National Party led the protest Sunday in Sittwe, the state capital, where many Rohingya lived before an outbreak of inter-communal violence in 2012 forced them to flee their homes.

The protest took place three days after the Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, urged Myanmar's government to reconsider a failed program to verify Rohingya for Myanmar citizenship and to remove restrictions on freedom of movement.