Over 200 community members joined the March Against #RohingyaGenocide on Sunday, September 10th at 5:30 P.M. till 7:30 P.M. in the Delmar Loop. The purpose of the march was to raise awareness of the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar. This three decades old humanitarian crisis orchestrated by the Myanmar government, military and Buddhist extremist has led to the brutal murders of thousands of Rohingya and continues to force hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Many families wind up in concentration camps like conditions on the Myanmar and Bangladesh border. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, is silent over the Rohingya ethnic cleansing in which villages are burned, women raped and children butchered.
"The world's media and leaders are shamefully silent when it comes to the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority," said Faizan Syed Executive Director of CAIR-Missouri. "We have gathered here today to give a voice to the oppressed and persecuted." CAIR-Missouri has launched a Rohingya task force in order to organize and raise awareness of the ongoing crisis against the Rohingya. This campaign has already collected hundreds of letters from across the state of Missouri which are being mailed to Senator's Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill to take action. Anyone interested in joining this task force should email Director Faizan Syed at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Join the CAIR-Missouri Rohingya Task Force: Click Here...
The march included speeches from local Imams such as Imam Djilali Kacem President of the Imam Council of Metropolitan St. Louis, Mufti Asif Umar the Imam of the Dar-Al-Islam Masjid, and Faizan Syed Executive Director of CAIR-Missouri. Community members held signs with statements such as "Stop the Rohingya Genocide" and "Silence is betrayal, save the Rohingya." The demonstrators then marched down Delmar Blvd shouting chants such as "1,2,3,4 Stop the killing, no more!" At the end of the march, the Adhan (call to prayer) was given and the Muslims prayed the Maghrib (sunset prayer) in which they prayed for the Rohingya and all oppressed peoples in the world.
Organizers are making the following demands:
1) Reimpose full sanctions on the Burmese government.
2) Seek UN approval for an intervention by peacekeepers, who would establish safe zones for Rohingya refugees trapped along the Myanmar/Bangladesh border.
3) Designate extremist monk Ashin Wirathu as a foreign terrorist and sanction him. accordingly.
4) Publicly demand that de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledge, condemn and work to stop the violence or face sanctions herself.
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
La misión de CAIR es mejorar la comprensión del Islam, fomentar el diálogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprensión mutua.
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CONTACT: CAIR-Missouri Executive Director Faizan Syed, 636-207-8882, 314-330-2946, E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;
