Myanmar opposition group says 19 di

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Subject: Myanmar opposition group says 19 dissidents detained

WIRE:July 26, 8:51 a.m. ET
Myanmar opposition group says 19 dissidents detained
AP News Service

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Authorities in Myanmar have detained 19  people _
including the wife and 3-year-old daughter of an  opposition activist _ in a
bid to stop an anti-government march, an  opposition group reported Monday.

The All-Burma Students' Democratic Front said eight of those  detained were
relatives of Kyaw Wunna, a pro-democracy activist  sought by authorities.

A government spokesman, speaking on customary condition of  anonymity,
responded in a statement faxed to Bangkok that ``some  political extremists
were called in for questioning'' and that Kyaw  Wunna was not among them.

The opposition group, composed of student exiles from protests  in 1988 that
were crushed by the military, said that the roundup  was triggered by calls
for a protest march July 19 in the central  city of Bago.

The date was the Martyrs Day holiday, commemorating the  assassination of
Myanmar's greatest independence hero, Gen. Aung  San, and eight colleagues
by a rival politician in 1947.

Aung San was the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991  Nobel Peace
Prize and leader of the opposition. The military has  governed Myanmar, also
known as Burma, since 1962 and keeps an iron  lid on dissent.

The student group said that those arrested included two former  student
leaders from 1988, Ko Lwin Moe Myint, 27, and Ko Myint Oo,  30. Apart from
Kyaw Wunna's family, the remaining detainees were  largely students, doctors
and teachers, the group said.