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NEWS - -Myanmar Students Protest on
-Myanmar Students Protest on Yangon Campus
Reuters
02-SEP-98
YANGON, Sept 2 (Reuters)- About 700 Myanmar students staged
a
sit-in protest at the campus of Yangon's Institute of
Technology on
Wednesday, shouting slogans demanding postponement of
examinations, witnesses said.
Roads leading to the campus were blocked, a diplomat
contacted
from Bangkok said. The campus is about 12 km (seven miles)
north of
the city centre.
Yangon residents said the students had begun demonstrating
at
around 9:30 a.m. (0300 GMT). They said the protest appeared
to be
non-political but details were difficult to confirm as all
roads to the area
were closed.
On August 24, students at the two institutes staged their
first open
street protests against the military government since 1996.
Students chanted slogans calling for the downfall of the
military
government and gave out leaflets supporting the opposition
National
League for Democracy (NLD) and its vow to convene a
parliament.
Those protests were broken up by police.
They came a few days after the government staged university
finals
examinations, despite the closure of Myanmar's universities
since
December 1996. The closure has brought higher education to a
halt.
Students preparing for the August 18 exams were forced to
study at
home in most cases.
Universities have frequently been the site of
anti-government protests
in Myanmar. In 1988 many student protesters were killed near
the
Yangon University campus.
On Monday, the ruling State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC)
warned the opposition through the state press that the armed
forces
would not stand idle if it tried to stir up unrest.
The military took direct power in 1988 by crushing a
pro-democracy
uprising. It then ignored the results of a 1990 general
election easily
won by the NLD.
Foreign diplomats in Myanmar were scheduled to meet
opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Wednesday to discuss
her
party's standoff with the military government, diplomats
said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy called it ``a routine
meeting with
the National League for Democracy, which is a legal
political party.''
The envoys would ``seek elaboration on current political
events and
the efforts by the government and the NLD to reconcile their
political
differences,'' the spokesperson said.
Their aim would be ``to foster dialogue, national
reconciliation and a
peaceful transition to democracy,'' the spokesperson added.
Suu Kyi told supporters last weekend that she intends to
convene a
so-called ``People's Parliament'' in September. Government
officials
have said such a move would be illegal and a parliament
cannot be
convened before a new national constitution is finalised.
But the NLD
has accused the government of stalling in drafting the new
charter.
State run media have suggested the opposition should be
outlawed
and Suu Kyi deported if the party proceeds with its plans.
The opposition threatened to convene a parliament,
comprising
representatives of the country's various ethnic groups,
after the military
ignored its calls to convene a plebiscite on August 21 based
on the
results of the 1990 election.
Since the 1990 election Myanmar's military government has
arrested
scores of opposition members and curbed the NLD's
activities.
Relations between the two sides appeared to be easing as
high level
representatives met for the first talks for more than a year
on August
18.
But progress has stalled as the administration refuses to
hold talks
with Suu Kyi, a condition the NLD says is a pre-requisite
for genuine
dialogue.