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| (Photo: EPA) |
The “hacktivist” group Anonymous has said its next internet campaign is
aimed at protecting Burma’s Muslim community, which has faced mounting
attacks and the threat of ethnic cleansing over the past year.
The group said it was “very possible” that the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be a target.
A member of the Anonymous collective told The Independent that the Burma
protest will start on June 1 with a “paperstorm” protest outside the
CNN building in Los Angeles, demanding more coverage of the issue. There
are also expected to be hacking attacks on Burmese government sites.
The campaign is partly directed at “the UN, who should be supplying
peacekeepers,” said the Anonymous-aligned Twitter account
@CassandraRules.
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi may also face pressure from the group over her refusal to directly condemn the attacks.
Targeting Suu Kyi “is debatable. I cannot speak for my fellow Anons on
the matter. Let's just say … it's very possible,” another Anonymous
member told GlobalPost.
Members of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy admitted to The
Independent in April that electoral concerns made it difficult for her
to openly support Muslims in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
“It is true she does not say enough about the problems faced by
minorities,” said one party member. “But we have to worry about what the
Burmese people will think.”
Burma’s Muslims have faced increasing persecution over the past year.
Rohingya Muslims near the border with Bangladesh bore the brunt of two
waves of communal rioting in June and October that left at least 180
dead and 125,000 displaced. A report by Human Rights Watch last month
accused the government of crimes against humanity for its role in their
persecution.
The Rohingya are an ethnic group that is denied citizenship, considered
illegal immigrants by locals and trapped in miserable refugee camps.
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