Terrified Rohingya Muslims await chance to enter Bangladesh
The scene has played out with heartbreaking regularity as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled persecution in Myanmar and escaped to neighboring Bangladesh: terrified knots of men, women and children crossing the swollen Naf river and waiting along the border for permission to cross.
A Rohingya child sleeps inside a basket in which he was carried as a group of Rohingya fled Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya Muslims cross over the border into Bangladesh from Myanmar, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Rohingya Muslim helps an elderly as they cross over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
On Wednesday at least 2,000 exhausted and starving people waited in rice paddy fields at one border crossing for Bangladesh border guards to let them enter. Evening fell, with no permission granted.
Rohingya Muslims help another after crossing the Naf river near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya women carry children and belongings and walk after having just crossed the Naf river near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
So they waited, crouched in the muddy fields. The children carried younger siblings. The elderly were helped along by relatives.
All of them were hungry and exhausted as they waited. Some collapsed. Others wept as they clung to their children.
The exodus of Rohingya Muslims started Aug. 25 when insurgents attacked dozens of police posts in Myanmar.
Rohingya Muslims cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya Muslims cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya Muslim children stay close to elders as they cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The retribution from Myanmar's authorities was swift and brutal.
Hundreds of Rohingya villages in Rakhine state have been set on fire. Fleeing Rohingya have told stories of arson and rape and shootings by Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist mobs.
The violence, which the U.N. describes as ethnic cleansing, has pushed more than 600,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.
Rohingya Muslims cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Rohingya Muslim woman carries an infant child and walks with a group after crossing the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya Muslims cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya Muslims crowd an embankment after crossing the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An exhausted Rohingya lies on the muddy ground after crossing over from the Myanmar border into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Groups of Rohingya Muslims cross the Naf river at the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 1 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)