<p>Bangladesh police detained 450 Rohingya celebrating a Muslim festival on a beach, officials said on Thursday, in a further sign of growing intolerance towards the refugees.</p>.<p>Bangladesh bans the 920,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees from leaving camps surrounded by barbed wire in the southeast where they have been stuck for almost five years.</p>.<p>Most fled to Bangladesh after a military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 that the United States designated in March as genocide.</p>.<p>Police spokesman Rafiqul Islam told <em>AFP </em>that officers detained "more than 450 Rohingya" in raids in the town of Cox's Bazar late Wednesday on the second day of the Eid holidays, a major Muslim festival.</p>.<p>Islam said the operation was part of "security measures" in the country's largest resort district which attracts millions of tourists during holiday seasons including Eid al-Fitr.</p>.<p>"Rohingyas are involved in various crimes. It is unsafe for our tourists. We have strengthened the security of the city. As tourists visit Cox's Bazar on Eid al-Fitr, we have stepped up patrols to keep them safe," he said.</p>.<p>Those detained were set to be sent back to the camps. Several told <em>AFP </em>at a police station that they went to the beach for Eid festivities.</p>.<p>"We are here for fun... But as soon as we arrived, the police caught us. We did not do anything wrong, we just sat on the beach," said Mohammad Ibrahim.</p>.<p>"Both my husband and I were picked up by police. My children are hungry. They haven't eaten all day," said a woman named Samjida, 20.</p>.<p>With a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingya are loathed by many in Myanmar, who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali".</p>.<p>They have refused to go back until assured of security and equal rights -- which Myanmar has refused to promise -- so remain stuck in bamboo-and-tarp shacks with no work, poor sanitation and little education.</p>.<p>Bangladeshi authorities have become increasingly impatient about hosting the refugees while criticising the rest of the world for not providing more assistance.</p>.<p>In recent months authorities have bulldozed about 3,000 shops and dozens of private community-run schools in the camps.</p>.<p>The camps have seen an increase in violence blamed on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an insurgent group fighting the Myanmar military but also thought to be behind a wave of murders and drug smuggling.</p>.<p>Rezaur Rahman Lenin, a Dhaka-based activist and human rights consultant for the UN Resident Coordinator's Office said that the lives of the refugees are "heavily curbed".</p>.<p>"Rohingya youths have every right to pursue their happiness at the longest beach of the world and beyond," he said.</p>.<p>"Bangladesh authorities should lift the restrictions on movement, allow markets and schools to reopen, and facilitate donors' efforts to improve refugee access to livelihoods, health care, education and entertainment."</p>
<p>Bangladesh police detained 450 Rohingya celebrating a Muslim festival on a beach, officials said on Thursday, in a further sign of growing intolerance towards the refugees.</p>.<p>Bangladesh bans the 920,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees from leaving camps surrounded by barbed wire in the southeast where they have been stuck for almost five years.</p>.<p>Most fled to Bangladesh after a military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 that the United States designated in March as genocide.</p>.<p>Police spokesman Rafiqul Islam told <em>AFP </em>that officers detained "more than 450 Rohingya" in raids in the town of Cox's Bazar late Wednesday on the second day of the Eid holidays, a major Muslim festival.</p>.<p>Islam said the operation was part of "security measures" in the country's largest resort district which attracts millions of tourists during holiday seasons including Eid al-Fitr.</p>.<p>"Rohingyas are involved in various crimes. It is unsafe for our tourists. We have strengthened the security of the city. As tourists visit Cox's Bazar on Eid al-Fitr, we have stepped up patrols to keep them safe," he said.</p>.<p>Those detained were set to be sent back to the camps. Several told <em>AFP </em>at a police station that they went to the beach for Eid festivities.</p>.<p>"We are here for fun... But as soon as we arrived, the police caught us. We did not do anything wrong, we just sat on the beach," said Mohammad Ibrahim.</p>.<p>"Both my husband and I were picked up by police. My children are hungry. They haven't eaten all day," said a woman named Samjida, 20.</p>.<p>With a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingya are loathed by many in Myanmar, who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali".</p>.<p>They have refused to go back until assured of security and equal rights -- which Myanmar has refused to promise -- so remain stuck in bamboo-and-tarp shacks with no work, poor sanitation and little education.</p>.<p>Bangladeshi authorities have become increasingly impatient about hosting the refugees while criticising the rest of the world for not providing more assistance.</p>.<p>In recent months authorities have bulldozed about 3,000 shops and dozens of private community-run schools in the camps.</p>.<p>The camps have seen an increase in violence blamed on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an insurgent group fighting the Myanmar military but also thought to be behind a wave of murders and drug smuggling.</p>.<p>Rezaur Rahman Lenin, a Dhaka-based activist and human rights consultant for the UN Resident Coordinator's Office said that the lives of the refugees are "heavily curbed".</p>.<p>"Rohingya youths have every right to pursue their happiness at the longest beach of the world and beyond," he said.</p>.<p>"Bangladesh authorities should lift the restrictions on movement, allow markets and schools to reopen, and facilitate donors' efforts to improve refugee access to livelihoods, health care, education and entertainment."</p>