Burmese try to keep protest alive
Burmese protestors in the country’s biggest city Rangoon are keeping up a low-key resistance against the country’s military regime.
Some harass soldiers by throwing stones at them under cover of darkness.
Security forces have responded by arresting those they can and sometimes their family members, including children, as well.
Curfew in the country’s main cities, Rangoon and Mandalay, runs from 10pm to 4am.
The new tactics come as the government announced numbers of those arrested and released in connection with the recent protests.
A commentary in the state-controlled newspaper meanwhile criticised demonstrators for taking to the streets, saying the government’s own plan to restore democracy could help meet their demands, including the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The government announced last week that the junta leader, General Than Shwe, was ready to meet her if she agreed conditions, including giving up support for foreign economic sanctions against Burma.
The US has warned that it would push for UN sanctions against Burma if it fails to move toward democracy.
China and Russia, however, have opposed any action and Burma’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win told the UN General Assembly last week democracy “cannot be imposed from outside.”
The New Light of Burma also reported today that the authorities had seized weapons from Buddhist monasteries and made dozens of new arrests, defying global outrage over their violent repression of protesters who sought an end to 45 years of military dictatorship.
Recent raids on monasteries turned up 18 knives, one axe, catapults and one 9mm bullet, according to the newspaper. The government threatened to punish any monks who violate the law, stepping up pressure on clerics who led the protests.
Security continued to ease in Rangoon more than a week after soldiers and police opened fire on demonstrators.
Some roadblocks were removed and visitors began trickling back to the heavily guarded Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the starting and finishing points of protests that began in mid-August over a sharp fuel price increase.
The junta says at least 10 people were killed in its crackdown, though independent sources say the toll was likely much higher, and that 1,000 remain in detention centres.
At least 135 monks are being held, according to The New Light of Burma. In addition, 78 more people suspected of involvement in the rallies were being questioned by investigators.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for last month’s protests, the biggest in nearly two decades against brutal military rule. The junta’s bloody crackdown sparked international condemnation – even from its Southeast Asian neighbours.
