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Bangkok post (10-9-99)
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<font face="Arial Narrow, Helvetica" size=5>Myawaddy crossing
closed<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Burma yesterday
suddenly closed the border crossing between Myawaddy and Mae Sot
district, saying it was a security precaution.<br>
Thai immigration and customs officials were surprised to see the
friendship bridge, the legitimate crossing between the two towns, blocked
in the middle by several empty oil drums.<br>
An immigration official said authorities were not notified in
advance.<br>
He said they were advised later the closure was a precautionary measure
by Rangoon to prevent possible attacks by rebels. It was not known when
the border would reopen.<br>
About 100 Burmese men who claimed to be members of the People's
Liberation Front Mac Sot branch gathered on the Moei river bank in Ban
Rim Moel, Mae Sot, yesterday carrying banners condemning the Burmese
junta and demandiing democracy in Burma.<br>
Anti-government leaflets and stickers were also distributed to
passers-by.<br>
The protest lasted about an hourbefore it was dispersed by police,
who held several protesters for questioning. <br>
---------------------------------------------------------------- <br>
</font><font size=5><b>junta snuffs out rebel hopes<br>
</font></b><font size=3>Bangkok protesters slash their wrists to write
bloody posters<br>
Rangoon, Agencies <br>
Burma's junta snuffed out threats of a dissident uprising in rain-
drenched Rangoon yesterday, tightening the security net which has
underpinned years of military rule. <br>
Road blocks were erected around government buildings, fewer citizens and
more police than normal were on the streets but no unrest was reported on
the day nominated by dissidents as the dawn of a new era of protest.
<br>
Most markets and restaurants were open despite reports that popular
teashops.had been asked to close, diplomats said. <br>
"There has not been any sign of protests or anything out of the
usual," said one Rangoon-based diplomat. <br>
"There are reports of pro-democracy posters going up in some areas
but 1 haven't seen any yet." <br>
Diplomatic sources quoted residents in the northern city of Mandalay as
saying security was tighter than normal but there were no disturbances.
<br>
Exiled activists however said four small "cat and mouse"
demonstrations took place in Rangoon suburbs. <br>
A government spokesman said the whole country was "peaceful and
stable with business. as usual - the Defence Attache Corps is even having
a golf tournament". <br>
Activists hoped to incite unrest yesterday on the so-called Four Nines
day or 9/9/99 in honour of hundreds gunned down in a student uprising on
August 8, 1988 or 8/8/88. <br>
They called a general strike and boycott of state media. Leaflets were
circulated demanding freedom from military rule. <br>
The junta gradually stepped up always tight security in the weeks leading
up to 9/9/99 and threatened to mete out tough treatment to any
protesters. <br>
Two days ago British human rights activist Rachel Goldwyn, 28, was
arrested for singing pro-democracy songs in a Rangoon market. <br>
Another Briton, 26-year-old James Mawdsley was sentenced to 17
years in jail earlier this month. British envoys said yesterday they were
still trying to win acess to the pair. <br>
The road to the party quarters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
was blockaded,and security was stepped up at road junctions around the
city where demonstrators have gathered in the past. <br>
Customs and solidiers on the Thai Burma Friendship Bridge,which links the
towns of Mae Sot and Myawaddy, were conducting thorough body searches as
a security precaution, but tradesmen were still crossing the pan. <br>
On Thai side of the bridge, Burmese student exiles had plastered walls in
the market town of Mae Sot with anti-Rangoon posters, which recalled
8-8-88 and decried military dictatorship in their homeland. Hundreds of
student exiles daubed posters with their own blood in Bangkok. <br>
About 300 gathered in front of the Burmese embassy where a few veterans
of Burma's democracy campaign <br>
slashed their arms with razors to paint "9999" and
"SPDC" - the acronym of the Rangoon regime, the 'State Peace
and Development Council - on sheets of paper and then burned them. <br>
, About 100 protesters broke into the Burmese embassy in Australia
yesterday after smashing fences and over powering police. <br>
Australian Federal Police spokesman Daryl Webb said the protesters
overwhelmed around 15 police officers and smashed fences to get inside,
the cornpound where they burned a Burmese flag and tried to tear down the
flagpole. <br>
The protesters were later cleared from the embassy cornpound but they
later began a sit-on outside the building. <br>
A Burmese government spokesrnan said that embassies in any country must
be given protection against violent acts. <br>
"Disciplined demonstrations are quite acceptable but physical
destruction is a criminal offence," he said. <br>
"I am certain that the Australian government will provide the
Myanrnar embassy in Canberra with all necessary protection" he
added. <br>
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