Buddhist monks 'storm UN shelter’ to attack Rohingya refugees

Sinhala National Movement in Sri Lanka attacked the safe-house for the group of Muslims – which included women and children – in support of fellow Buddhists in Burma

A group of Sri Lankan hardline Buddhists protest outside the UN office in Colombo, Sri Lanka this week (AP)

Buddhist monks stormed a shelter for Rohingya Muslims in Sri Lanka run by the United Nations, demanding that the refugees be sent back to Burma where they had fled from violence.

The followers of the philosophy, which calls for the pursuit of inner peace and love, led dozens of lay people in the protest on Mount Lavinia house on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo.

Police arrested about 30 of the Rohingya Muslims – including 16 children – for their own safety as plans were put in place to move the group to another location, officials said.

The hardline Sinhala National Movement had taken to the streets in support of their fellow Buddhists in Burma, where it is the religion of the majority.

The activists carried banners, with one in English that read: “All terrorists are not Muslims but most terrorists are Muslims.”

It also posted a video clip on Facebook showing the protesters chanting that the Rohingyas were “terrorists who killed Buddhists” in Burma.

More than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from the country's eastern state of Rakhine where a crackdown by the military erupted after insurgent assaults by the minority group on security forces.

The outbreaks of violence by the Rohingya came after decades of complaints of persecution of the people in Burma.

They are not allowed to move freely and are denied citizenship. But the authorities claim they are natives of neighbouring Bangladesh who illegally settled in Burma.

More than 1,000 have died amid the mass exodus of the Rohingya from the Rakhine state, aid agencies say, escaping from the military who are reportedly burning them out of their villages.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein described it as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Officials in Burma say that more than 100 were killed after the insurgent group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked police outposts last month in the conflict-torn region.

International analysts have called for an outside body such as the UN to find a solution to the crisis.