Riot Police Guard Myanmar Capital a

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

NOTE: Lon Htein are far from being riot police.  They are known, from
experience, to be ruthless. In 1988 they beat protestors to death,
drowned them in Inla Lake and stole valuables from them dead and
prisoners.

Riot Police Guard Myanmar Capital after Protests

            Reuters
            25-AUG-98

            YANGON, Aug 25 (Reuters)- Riot police were stationed across
            Myanmar's capital of Yangon on Tuesday after rare student
protests in
            support of the opposition's vow to call a parliament. 

            Students from two Yangon colleges staged the first
anti-government
            protests in more than a year on Monday, both of which were
broken up
            by riot police, diplomats and local residents said. 

            The demonstrations came as opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi
            ended a 13-day roadside protest against military government
            restrictions on her movements and backed her National League
for
            Democracy's (NLD) pledge to call a parliament. 

            An NLD source said on Tuesday the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner
            was being treated by her doctors and her health was
improving after
            the exhausting standoff. 

            A man answering the telephone at her Yangon home said she
was not
            available to take calls. 

            Diplomats said up to 100 demonstrators confronted around 300
riot
            police near the Yangon Institute of Technology on Monday
evening and
            some stones were thrown. 

            Riot police earlier dispersed a peaceful protest by more
than 100
            students near Yangon University. Two truckloads of
protesters were
            detained, diplomats said. 

            The protests were the first in Yangon since December 1996
when the
            authorities closed the country's universities after a series
of student
            protests, diplomats said. 

            Both campuses were hotbeds of anti-government protest in
1988,
            when the military crushed a student-led uprising for
democracy.
            Diplomats said Monday's protesters had been wearing red
            headbands similar to those that became popular during the
uprising. 

            Dozens of security police armed with riot batons were
stationed near
            the Yangon University campus. 

            Diplomats said it was still unclear whether the student
protests were
            the start of a major campaign. 

            ``There is a rise in tension and everyone is talking about
the
            demonstrations, but at the moment these have only involved
students,''
            one said. 

            ``Although they were calling on people to go and join them
and
            bystanders obviously supported them, it's not as if everyone
is about to
            go out and demonstrate.'' 

            Diplomats said the opposition's next step would likely
depend on Suu
            Kyi's health. 

            She returned by ambulance to Yangon on Monday hours after
her party
            issued a statement ``beseeching'' her to end the protest due
to her
            ``critical health condition.'' 

            The NLD had said Suu Kyi had become dehydrated, was
suffering
            from constipation and ``might go into shock any time.'' 

            Suu Kyi spent nearly two weeks camped in a minivan outside
Yangon
            after being prevented from travelling west and in turn
refusing
            government demands to return to Yangon. 

            After a similar six-day stand-off over restrictions on her
travel last
            month, which was forcibly ended by the military, Suu Kyi had
to rest for
            several days due to dehydration. 

            State newspapers said on Tuesday Home Affairs Minister Tin
Hlaing
            had warned the opposition to ``avoid acts which will
undermine
            stability and peace and the rule of law.'' 

            The NLD's vow last week that it would shortly call a
``People's
            Parliament'' was a defiant challenge to the military, which
has ruled
            Myanmar for more than 35 years. 

            The party won Myanmar's last general election eight years
ago by a
            landslide, but the result was ignored by the military. The
government
            has said the opposition would be breaking the law if it
attempted to
            call parliament. db CRJ