DHAKA, 11 December 2021, (TON): An official said “the authorities concerned have demolished about 1,000 shops belonging to Rohingya refugees in their Cox’s Bazar camps, with a rights worker saying the move would have a "huge impact" on refugees' livelihoods.”

About 850,000 Rohingya are packed into 34 camps across the country, most of whom fled a 2017 military clampdown in neighbouring Myanmar that the United Nations says could be genocide.

Bangladesh has been praised for taking in the refugees but rights groups criticise the authorities for restrictions in the camps and their controversial relocation of thousands of Rohingya to a flood-prone island.

Camp officials armed with excavators, hammers and shovels bulldozed the shops in several camps in the Cox's Bazar area on Thursday and Friday, leaving shell-shocked Rohingya shop-owners scrambling to salvage their goods.

Deputy Refugee Commissioner Shamsud Douza said authorities were demolishing "illegal" shops in all camps.

He told media "we have evicted about a thousand illegal shops. We are evicting illegal shops to build shelters for Rohingya.”