Two Foreigners Stage Demo

[tun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Date: 28 May 94 04:25:01 +0700

Subject : Two Foreigners Stage Democracy Protest in Rangoon
 
   BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Two young European men staged a
protest in central Rangoon Friday, raising a banner calling for
the release of Burma's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, a witness said.
   The pair unfurled their banner outside the Sule Pagoda, a
Buddhist shrine in the heart of the city, and quickly attracted
more than 100 onlookers, the witness said.
   Friends in Thailand identified the two as Thierry
Grandidier, 25, a Swiss-French national from Nice, and George
Wiessig, 26, from Saarbrucken in Germany. They said the protest
was part of a coordinated international campaign to draw
attention to demands for democracy in Burma.
   The witness in Rangoon said by telephone he did not know
what happened to the two protesters but said they held aloft
their banner for at least 10 minutes. Burmese military rulers
tolerate no public expression of opposition to the government.
   Friday is the fourth anniversary of elections in Burma that
were won convincingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy. The junta refused to recognize the election result
and instead called a national convention in January of last year
to draft a new constitution.
   Although the convention has yet to complete its work it has
been widely condemned as a sham by Burmese dissidents.
   Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since
July, 1989, told a visiting U.S. congressman earlier this year
that the convention was "an absolute farce."
 
 
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