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Reuters-Thai police shift dissident



                                 Thai police shift dissidents from Myanmar
embassy 
                                 07:07 a.m. Aug 24, 1998 Eastern 

                                 BANGKOK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Thai police
said on Monday they had moved 14
                                 Myanmar dissidents from a protest site in
front of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok
                                 but denied they had been arrested. 

                                 Police said the protesters were moved as
they had been blocking the entrance to a
                                 diplomat's compound and had been taken to
a holding centre for Myanmar refugees
                                 south of Bangkok. 

                                 The All Burma Students' Democratic Front
(ABSDF), an organisation of Myanmar
                                 dissidents, complained that the 14 had
been arrested, but police denied this. 

                                 ``We just took them to immigration
department to check their identity and have
                                 already sent them back to the holding
centre,'' a police officer told Reuters. 

                                 Some 100 Myanmar dissidents in exile
supported by Thai activists have staged a
                                 sit-in protest outside the embassy since
August 3 to back demands for a parliament
                                 by Myanmar's main opposition party. 

                                 About 200 dissidents have been living at a
shelter for Myanmar dissidents in
                                 Thailand's Rachaburi province since 1995. 

                                 While they are not allowed to take part in
political activity as a condition for
                                 remaining in Thailand, police say that
from time to time dissidents sneak out of the
                                 centre to stage protests against Myanmar's
military government. 

                                 By Monday afternoon about 20 protesters,
half of them Thai, were still at the
                                 embassy. 

                                 ``We believe they will all leave by later
today,'' a police officer said.