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Myanmar opposition leader Suu Kyi u



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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San 
Suu Kyi was apparently unhurt Friday after getting caught in a 
scuffle between police and supporters outside her home, 
sources said.

Diplomats and opposition figures in exile reported that Suu Kyi, 
winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her opposition to 
Myanmar's military regime, was believed to have fallen in 
the melee.

The confrontation erupted Thursday when police barred 30 to 
50 youth members of her National League for Democracy from 
entering her home in Yangon, Myanmar's capital, for a 
regularly scheduled study session. Suu Kyi, 53, and her 
No. 2, Tin Oo, afterward spent the night with them in
the street in a ``sit-in demonstration'' in monsoon rains 
until 9 a.m. 

Friday, when they went into her compound, the government 
said in a statement. Police stood nearby. A spokesman for 
the U.S. Embassy in Yangon said: ``We understand that nobody
has been allowed in or out of her compound since this morning, 
and that security has been increased.''

Western diplomats said the scuffle broke out as Suu Kyi 
tried to escort the youths past police lines into her home, 
and many had heard that Suu Kyi had fallen but was unhurt.
An exile opposition group, the National Coalition Government 
of the Union of Burma, said it was believed Suu Kyi had 
been pushed to the ground and that police had used abusive 
language with her.

Neither Suu Kyi nor other leaders of her party could be 
contacted. Suu Kyi has said that the government often cuts 
her phone line and a call to one of her colleagues was 
abruptly cut off after several seconds. The incident would 
be the first time since 1996 that Suu Kyi has been placed
in physical danger, though the government has severely 
curtailed her activities.

In November 1996, a pro-government mob attacked Suu Kyi's 
motorcade with sticks and crowbars. Some afterward said 
they had been paid by the government to attack the car.
The statement from the exile group, as well as secondhand 
accounts from witnesses, said the youths trying to enter 
Suu Kyi's home Thursday were attacked by people in 
civilian clothing.

The government has tolerated study sessions by NLD youths 
at Suu Kyi's home for months, though she cannot meet such 
large gatherings of people outside her compound.
The party, in an unusually confrontational statement, 
demanded Tuesday that the regime convene by Aug. 21 
the pro-democracy Parliament elected in 1990 but never 
allowed to meet.

The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, 
since 1962. The regime refused to honor the election result 
when it became clear that pro-military parties lost.
Suu Kyi, who vaulted to prominence during anti-government 
protests in 1988 that were bloodily suppressed, has been 
under house arrest or close confinement for most of the 
last nine years. Hundreds of her supporters are in jail.

 260834 jun 98
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