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AFP : Security increased as foreign



Security increased as foreign opponents of junta plan protest in Yangon
Sun 09 Aug 98 - 09:56 GMT 

BANGKOK, Aug 9 (AFP) - Security was dramatically increased at Yangon's
famous Shwedagon pagoda Sunday after a group of foreigners opposed to
Myanmar's junta said they would hand out leaflets in the capital in support
of democracy and human rights, witnesses said.

At least 50 police, intelligence agents and soldiers were deployed, a
western witness added, saying "it was much more than usual."

"They were even videotaping people, which is something they never really
do."

Soldiers were posted elsewhere in the city but security levels overall were
"not too much more than usual."

Foreign sources in the Myanmar capital confirmed the presence of the group,
which called itself simply "a multi-national peace-making team," but said
it had failed to distribute leaflets at the appointed times and places it
told journalists and others of earlier.

One of the places the group had said it would distribute the pamphlets at
was the Shwedagon pagoda.

"Nobody seems to have seen them," one of the sources said.

"Nobody seems to have seen their pamphlets."

The activists had listed a series of sites around Yangon where they would
hand out the leaflets briefly before moving on to the next in a bid to
avoid apprehension.

The team comprised activists from Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Thailand and the United States, the group said in the statement, adding
they would distribute "goodwill messages in Burmese and English."

They were expected to fly to Bangkok later Sunday.

Security has been increased in Yangon amid rising political tension but the
10th anniversary Saturday of a military crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrators passed without incident.