On Tuesday, tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in dozens of camps across Bangladesh staged a large protest, demanding safe repatriation to their home state of Rakhine, exactly nine years after they fled a government crackdown.
The gathering took place amid a prolonged impasse in repatriation efforts, leaving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya stuck in overcrowded camps in the Cox's Bazar region of southeastern Bangladesh.
Protesters carried banners and chanted slogans calling on the international community to intervene and ensure their safety upon return to Myanmar. They stressed their desire to go back home under guarantees of citizenship and security.
The Rohingya, a Muslim minority community in Myanmar, have endured waves of violence and persecution for decades. The 2017 crisis drove more than 700,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh.
The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar had previously reached several agreements on repatriation, but those plans have repeatedly stalled due to a lack of trust and unassured safety conditions in Myanmar.
Observers note that the situation in Bangladesh is growing increasingly tense as the South Asian nation bears the strain of hosting a large refugee population, while the prospects for repatriation remain fragile.
