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THE NATION: 980824 (r)



                                            August 23, 1998 


                                    


                 BURMESE PROTEST

 Force may be used
 to end rally in front
 of embassy

 Students, dissidents start hunger strike

 Force may be used to remove about 100 Burmese dissidents
 protesting outside the Burmese embassy if they do not agree to move
 away from the gate area, the authorities warned yesterday.

 The warning came as the protesters, mostly Burmese students and
 dissidents living in Thailand, started a hunger strike in front of the
 embassy on Sathorn Road in support of the National League for
 Democracy (NLD), which is heading for a showdown with the
 Burmese military rulers that has ignored its demand to convene
 parliament.

 Kobsak Chutikul, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that the
 concerned authorities - the Special Branch, the Police Department, the
 National Intelligence Agency and the ministry - will meet tomorrow to
 decide whether they will recommend forcibly removing the protesters
 who have been camped outside the embassy since August 3.

 Mr Kobsak said if the protesters move their protest across the road
 instead of blocking the gate of the embassy then no action will be
 taken.

 "This is international practice and the practice in Thailand as well when
 there are protests in front of the Government House or Parliament.
 You cannot block the entrance and inconvenience the embassy staff
 and others when entering and leaving the compound," Mr Kobsak
 said.

 "We are not saying they cannot protest in Thailand. We just want them
 to move across the road," he said.

 He said the authorities have tried to convince the protesters to do this
 before and will try again over the weekend, but if they refuse, the
 decision to use force may be recommended to Foreign Minister Surin
 Pitsuwan and Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart.

 The warning came as a group of 26 of the protesters announced that
 they have begun a hunger strike to press the Rangoon junta to allow
 the convening of a democratic parliament and hand over power.

 "We have set no timeframe for the hunger strike. We will call it off
 only after the political situation in Burma improves," said Zaw Wint, a
 spokesman for the group.

 Most of the dissidents have been in Thailand since fleeing a bloody
 crackdown on Burma's pro-democracy movement in 1988.

 On Friday, the opposition National League for Democracy, led by
 Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, made its most defiant
 challenge to military rule by saying it would shortly call a "people's
 parliament" after the junta ignored its Aug 21 deadline to convene
 parliament.

 Mr Kobsak said that the Thai authorities have been lenient with the
 protesters and do not want to use force.

 However, their refusal to move away from the gate is having
 repercussions on Thailand which will be viewed as unable to protect
 foreign missions. The Burmese embassy has complained about its
 compound being obstructed.

 He pointed to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
 which states that the host country is duty-bound to protect embassy
 premises and prevent disturbance of the peace of the missions. Thai
 laws, in particular the 1984 Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act,
 bind the country to similar obligations.

 Asked if Thailand would be criticised internationally if violence broke
 out should the Thai police try to forcibly remove the protesters, Mr
 Kobsak said the authorities were bearing this in mind.

 "We are in a difficult situation. If violence breaks out and the news
 spreads throughout the world we will be attacked again. But if we
 don't take action there will be other repercussions because other
 countries will see us as unable to protect their embassies," Mr Kobsak
 said.

 He said the protesters had promised that they would call off the
 demonstration on Aug 21 but are now continuing it indefinitely and that
 is why the authorities will have to take action.

 Meanwhile, 14 supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
 were apprehended in Myawaddy yesterday by Burmese security
 officials following a direct order from Yangon, a security source
 disclosed yesterday.

 The source said Lt-Col Saw Win, 275th infantry battalion
 commander, has reportedly ordered the arrest of the 14 activists who
 were charged with causing unrest and under investigation at a local
 military outpost.

 Lt-Col Saw Win has reportedly ordered local security officials to be
 strict with local residents who were barred from leaving the town while
 outsiders were also not allowed in.

                                                       
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 Last Modified: Sun, Aug 23, 1998
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