NEWS - Student protests end, but mo

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Student protests end, but more unrest expected in Mynamar

       Thu 03 Sep 98 - 04:44 GMT 

       YANGON, Sept 3 (AFP) - Thousands of students who staged the
biggest protests against the Myanmar junta in in nearly two years,
       dispersed peacefully early Thursday amid warnings of further
unrest.

       Foreign diplomats said Wednesday's demonstrations at two Yangon
university campuses ended without incident but that scores of
       riot police remained on stand-by.

       "It's obviously building up again," said one western envoy.
"There is tension there and it will only take a small spark to set it
all off
       again."

       Up to 4,000 students joined the protests, which came amid
escalating political tensions after the opposition National League for
       Democracy said it would convene a parliament which was elected in
1990 but has never been allowed to sit.

       "End the military government," chanted up to 800 students at the
Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT), as riot police cordoned off a
       one-mile perimeter around the campus, witnesses said.

       Another 3,000 students rallied at the Hlaing campus in the city,
where many of the institution's students live, diplomats and witnesses
       added.

       Riot police were sent to Hlaing and more were deployed around the
main YIT campus, they said.

       Riot troops were also seen entering the YIT but there were no
reports of clashes.

       After being conselled by academics, all but a few of the students
agreed to board buses to take them to their homes at Hlaing and
       elsewhere.

       The Hlaing protest died down in the early hours of Thursday and
all was later reported quiet, witnesses said.

       "There's nothing happening at the moment," said another western
diplomat. "But it's got to flare up again. It's just a matter of when
       and to what degree."

       The Hlaing campus, which was also sealed off by security forces,
hosts a college for students preparing to enter YIT.

       The protest was initially triggered by student anger at
arrangements for examinations over the last two weeks, the first since
       universities were closed following unrest in December 1996,
diplomats said.

       But the demonstrations were the biggest since the 1996 unrest and
came after riot police broke up a smaller protest outside Yangon
       University on August 25, arresting dozens of people, according to
witnesses.

       Another protest was staged later that day at YIT, during which
rocks were thrown and riot police mobilised.

       "The government is handling these things pretty well," said one
diplomat.

       "They are trying to avoid violence and confrontation because they
know that is only a short-term solution. Obviously, there must be
       change in Myanmar. But at keast the process is peaceful at the
moment."

       Political tensions are rising following an opposition decision to
convene the parliament elected in 1990 after the junta ignored earlier
       requests to do so.

       The opposition, led by the NLD of Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, won the 1990 polls by a landslide but the junta has
       refused to relinquish power.

       The junta has stepped up its verbal offensive against the
opposition, saying its vow to convene parliament was an unacceptable
       threat to national security and promising stern action if the
plan went ahead.

       The military also repeated allegations that foreign governments
were supporting the NLD and using sanctions to hinder progress
       toward democracy.