Myanmar Muslims in Malaysia protest violence

Thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims protested in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday, calling for an end to the violence against their community in Myanmar. More than 3,000 people, including refugees, walked from a mosque to the nearby Myanmar embassy after prayers, holding banners that read "Stop genocide" and "Stop religious violence" and shouting "Allahu Akhbar" or "God is greater". "We ask for... urgent international intervention to stop the killing and violence toward Rohingyas," the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia said in a statement. "Though the military junta has stated that the situation is better now but the information we received from back home (is) different... The situation (has) become worse and the violence has increased," it said. The group called on the United Nations to send observers to monitor the situation and aid, such as medicine and food, and for world leaders to pressure the government to stop persecuting them. Most of the protesters were men, wearing Muslim prayer caps, and many had come from northern Malaysia to join the demonstration. Clashes in western Rakhine state between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya, who are not recognized by the Myanmar government as citizens, have left dozens dead and more than 30,000 displaced. Malaysia is home to hundreds of thousands of people from Myanmar, including more than 20,000 Rohingya refugees. An estimated 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar, described by the U.N. as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. Myanmar's government considers the Rohingya to be foreigners, while many citizens -- including the local Rakhine Buddhist population -- see them as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.