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Police detain 17 people outside Myanmar embassy in Moscow

Up to 25 people currently stay near the building

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Police detained on Monday 17 people outside Myanmar’s embassy in Moscow for disorderly conduct, a law enforcement source told TASS.

"Seventeen people have been detained for various violations near Myanmar’s diplomatic mission’s building. Among them are 15 men and 2 women. All of them are natives of the North Caucasus," the source said.

Up to 25 people currently stay near the building. Police and special purpose units of the National Guard have stepped up security in the area.

On Sunday, an unauthorized rally was held outside Myanmar’s embassy in central Moscow in support of Rohingya Muslims, whom authorities of the Southeast Asian state refuse to recognize as citizens.

No violations of public order were reported. Moscow’s police said that rally had brought together about 800 people.

Earlier on Monday, more than 1.1 million people attended a rally in Chechnya’s capital Grozny in support of Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar’s Rohingya, a mostly Muslim people, live in the state of Rakhine. Local authorities consider them illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The state has seen numerous religious conflicts that sparked clashes between Muslims and local Buddhists. Thousands have been killed in clashes in the recent years.

The situation deteriorated on August 25, when hundreds of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militants attacked 30 police stations. Clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in western Myanmar have claimed more than 400 lives over the past week. More than 18,000 have fled the country.