A group of Myanmar nationals staged a demonstration in front of the Singapore embassy in Washington on Monday in protest against the Singapore Government's arrest and deportation of leaders of the Arakan Association.

Six Myanmar nationals were arrested in Singapore last week and deported for illegally garnering support for armed violence against the Myanmar government, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement last Wednesday.

The arrested Myanmar nationals were allegedly supporters of the Arakan Army (AA), a Rakhine insurgent group which the Myanmar government has designated a terrorist organisation.

The AA is the armed wing of the United League of Arakan, which seeks greater autonomy for the Rakhine state and whose members are mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhines. THE STRAITS TIMES/ASIA NEWS NETWORK