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NEWS - Thai authorities round up My



Thai authorities round up Myanmar demonstrators

       Wed 26 Aug 98 - 10:00 GMT 

       BANGKOK, Aug 26 (AFP) - Thai police Wednesday rounded up eight
Myanmar activists staging an anti-government demonstration
       outside their embassy here, bringing to more than 10 the number
in detention, special branch police said.

       "They were arrested by area police and are now still under
interrogation at the immigration bureau," a special branch officer told
       AFP.

       He said activists had been arrested in three sweeps on Saturday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday. All were charged with illegal entry into
       Thailand and would probably face deportation.

       The exiled All Burma Students' Democratic Front released a
statement saying 16 protesters had been detained in Wednesday's
       raid.

       "When the police arrived at the embassy the students say the
officers didn't ask for any documents or identification but arrested
them
       en masse," the statement said.

       "The police have also pulled down all the posters that were put
up by the protesters."

       The statement said about 30 exiled Myanmar activists were now
detained in Bangkok's immigration jail as a result of the roundups.

       The arrests follow increased pressure from the embassy in central
Bangkok for authorities to clear the protesters away from the gate.

       The protest by exiled Myanmar pro-democracy activists has
continued since August 3 despite calls from police to disperse.

       Some 200 protesters crowded the front of the embassy at its
height.

       Posters of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been
pasted on the embassy's walls and gate. 

       Slogans called on the Myanmar junta to convene the parliament
elected in 1990. The opposition won that election by a landslide but
       the junta has refused to recognise the result.

       Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has insisted the activists
be allowed to demonstrate but urged them not to disrupt the work of
       embassy staff.

       "Thailand will try to deal with this kind of situation in a
gentle way by explaing to them our reasons," he told reporters on
Tuesday.