Myanmarese students stage second protest in six weeks
Myanmarese students stage second protest in six weeks
YANGON (Reuter): About 1,500 Myanmar university students
staged the second street demonstration in six weeks yesterday
when they moved a peaceful sit-in protest to the streets of
Yangon, witnesses said.
The students, some of whom had staged a sit-in protest on the
Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT) campus earlier in the day,
left YIT and moved their sit-in to the front gates of Yangon
University.
No police were seen near the students, they said.
"We haven't been stopped by the authorities," one of the
students said from his seat on the street outside Yangon
University's closed gates. "We want to protest against how we
have been treated by campus authorities."
Earlier, about 100 YIT students staged a sit-in at the
school's main hall to show their displeasure at leaflets urging
them to improve their behavior.
The sit-in protest was also related to police handling of a
brawl between students and restaurant owners that led to a rare
street demonstration by about 500 university students in October.
A YIT source said the demonstrating students left the campus
and took to the streets after Education Ministry officials
refused to accept their demands.
The students had made a series of demands related to the
leaflets and the October brawl, YIT sources said. Three students
were temporarily arrested and two ordered not to attend classes
in connection with the brawl.
Witnesses said the protesting students were upset about
leaflets, apparently distributed by another group of students,
urging their classmates not to get involved in activities that
could disrupt their studies.
They were also unhappy about the way police handled the
October brawl. The October demonstration was to protest against
the rough handling of the students by police while under arrest.
Officials later detained Kyi Maung, deputy chairman of the
National League for Democracy party, for questioning for about a
week to determine his role in the protests.
The day before the October demonstration, two students were
seen speaking with Kyi Maung for about an hour at the home of
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The protesting YIT students yesterday demanded that two
students who had been requested not to attend classes after the
October brawl be allowed to return to their studies.
The students also demanded that authorities clarify within 24
hours whether any action had been taken against police
responsible for the arrests of their colleagues in October.
They also sought a promise that the YIT would not be closed
because of the latest protest yesterday, YIT sources said.
Although the school was not closed after the October
demonstration, it was shut for about two years following
nationwide pro-democracy uprisings in 1988.
The 1988 student-led demonstrations, which were quashed by the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) with thousands
killed or imprisoned, were sparked by a teashop brawl that
incited nationwide outrage against the military government.
The United States and other Western countries have blasted the
Yangon government for human rights abuses and its crackdown on
the pro-democracy movement led by Suu Kyi.