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.