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8-8-88 commemoration in Edmonton (r)



Dear Alice Khin,

Thank you very much for sharing with us your first-hand experience
of the horrifying shooting incidents infront of the SGH in August 1988 
and letting the world know how the "London Observers" ranking of the 
military regime in Burma as the world's 3rd worst abuser of human rights 
is more than just befitting and justified.

I could not find exact words to express my sadness to find out how  more 
than " 6000 unarmed civilians, students including children of under 16 
years, and Buddhist monks were being killed by the gunfire of troops 
from brutal military regime while they were demonstrating peacefully on 
the streets of Burma".

I hope the people of Burma would be able to show their courage and 
support the NLD all the way to stop this type of carnage happening in 
Burma again.


In soliderity,

Minn Kyaw Minn





>>

In Solidarity,

  



>From notes@xxxxxxx Tue Aug  4 17:59:34 1998
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>Date: 04 Aug 1998 16:49:31
>Reply-To: Conference "reg.burma" <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>From: khin_s_w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: 8-8-88 commemoration in Edmonton
>To: Recipients of burmanet-l <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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>
>May I have the permission to supplement your article with some of my 
true
>experiences...
>
>enmasse_1@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>>                      Memory of 8.8.88 will live on
>>                      =============================
>>
>> It all started at the strike of eight in the morning of August 8, 
1988.
>> Soon, thousands of unarmed protestors from North Okklapa, South 
Okklapa,
>> Thaketa, Thingangyun, Yankhin and Bahan were all out marching 
peacefully
>> towards the City Hall in columns holding banners of their own 
townships.
>> They were joined by hundreds of thousands of people waiting at 
Bandoola
>> Park infront of the City Hall in Rangoon.
>>
>>
>>
>> Finally, the making of the darkest moment came at 11:30 pm when truck
>> load of soldiers went out from the City Hall follwed by bren-carriers
>> and more trucks.
>>
>> Soldiers pointed their automatic rifles in the crowds. Then, 
suddenly,
>> the two warning pistol shots came and within seconds the mautomatic
>> rifle shots took the center stage and scores of people, young and old
>> fell to their death instantly. The streeets near the City Hall turned
>> chaostic with people screeming, running and taking cover in random
>> directions. More trucks load of soldiers were sent to Shwegondine 
Road
>> where the whole columns of demonstrators were gunned down. The 
casuality
>> was estimated over 2000. The shooting continued until 3:00 am ,the 
next
>> day. No one knew how many demonstrators were killed in total.
>>
>> Also, there were shootings in Sagaing. About 300 demonstrators and 
some
>> monks were reported killed.
>>
>> But, in Rangoon, the shootings did not end on the August 8, 1988. 
More
>> shootings were reported in Rangoon on 9-11 August 1988. The worst was
>> the shootings outside the Rangoon General Hospital.
>>
>>
>> 10 years ago ,  around middle of Aug , more
>> than 6000 unarmed civilians , students including children of under 16
>> years, and Buddhist monks were killed by the gunfire of troops from 
brutal
>> military
>> regime while they were demonstrating peacefully on the streets of 
Burma.
>>
>> The killing started from mid-night of Aug 8 , infront of the city 
hall in
>> Rangoon, Burma.When I went to the Rangoon General Hospital where I 
worked
>> ,
>> on the next day, ie 9th of Aug , we recieved hudreds of injured 
people and
>>
>> dead bodies for the whole day until night. I witnessed the incidence 
and
>> was actively involved in taking care of these injured people.
>>
>> We faced many problems in the hospital. One of the major problems was
>> shortage of blood and basic medical supplies. Here , we were having 
the
>> whole bunch of patients with gun shot wounds bleeding profusely. 
Before we
>>
>> give them the specific treatment, first thing we must do is to 
replace the
>>
>> blood that was lost ,  to bring up the blood pressure so that the 
patient
>> is fit to go for
>> surgery. We have no more blood in the blood bank and no bandage and
>> plaster
>> for wound dressing. We could not save them.
>>
>> It was really a very sad and horrifying incidence. We felt so 
helpless.
>>
>> We , as physicians and nurses , decided that we had a responsibility 
to
>> stop and prevent this , the merciless killing. So we wrote a letter
>
>> (signed by all doctors and nurses ) and tried to send it to the 
Ministry
>> of
>
>> Health and also Ministry of Defence. That was in 10th of Aug. In the
>> afternoon on the same day, we took a walk for about 1 block, just 
outside
>> the hospital compound, carrying a big banner , requesting the 
soldiers to
>> stop killing their own people because of shortage of blood and basic
>> medical supplies.
>>
>> What we got in return for this was bullets flying over our heads. 3 
army
>> trucks loaded with Burmese soldiers appeared from nowhere and shot 
the
>> hospital killing about 3 or 4 civilians ,2 Buddhist monks and 
injuring 6
>> nurses.
>>
>> It has been 10 years. Within this period, the momentum in the
>> perserverance
>> for democracy and human rights has increased, BUT we have not 
achieved our
>>
>> goal yet.
>>
>> In its Human Rights Index, the London Observers ranked the junta one 
of
>> the world's 3
>> worst abuser's of Human Rights for its record of torture , tyranny ,
>> killings and
>> persecution.
>>
>
>We would like to urge and encourage our people not to abandon their
>perseverance and to remain in unity and co-operation.
> Alice Khin Saw Win
>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>> To this day, the people of Burma remembers the August 8, 1988 as the 
the
>> day of the "FOUR EIGHTS" of the century.
>>
>> But, we have to remember this also. "If we do not want the repeat of
>> this dreadful day, we need to be brave at the same time. We have just
>> been shown how we can be brave and stand up against the tyranny in 
Burma
>> peacefully, non-violently and with discipline by Daw Aung San Suu 
Kyi."
>>
>> We shall succeed.
>>
>> May we have peace and democracy in Burma.
>>
>> In soliderity with the NLD's movement,
>>
>> Minn Kyaw Minn
>> ==============
>>
>
>
>
>


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