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ABSDF: WORKERS IN RANGOON THREATENE



Media Release
September 9, 1998


    WORKERS IN RANGOON THREATENED WITH THE SACK IF THEY JOIN PROTESTS

Burma's military authorities have temporarily shut down a number
of factories in Rangoon and workers have been threatened with the
sack in an effort to prevent them from joining protests.

The move comes after a major crackdown by the military who have
detained some 220 NLD officials and Members of Parliament across
the country in recent days. The crackdown is an attempt by the
authorities to prevent the NLD from successfully convening its
Peoples' Parliament. 

The authorities have ordered factories with a workforce of more
than 1,000 to shut down for a week from Tuesday September 8 to
Tuesday September 15. Both government and private factories have
been forced to close at industrial zones including Hlaing Thar
Yar, Da Gon and Shwe Pyi Thar.

ABSDF General-Secretary, Aung Thu Nyein, said the move is an
attempt to keep workers away from student protestors and the NLD.

"The military have threatened to take action against factory
owners if their workers join the protests. As a result, these
same factory owners have now threatened their workers that if
they protest against the military, they will lose their jobs."

"Some factories have actually been allowed to continue operating,
however, this only on the condition that the owners force their
workers to sign letters stating that they will not join the
protests." 

Meanwhile, in Rangoon this afternoon some 100 high school
students staged a brief demonstration at Tamwe Market, two
kilometres from the NLD's headquarters. The students shouted
anti-military slogans and called for people to support the NLD.

Sources in Rangoon also say that about 500 students are
continuing a protest at Rangoon University's Hlaing Campus. The
students began the protest on September 2 demanding the
postponement of their exams and the release of students arrested
in the December 1996 protests. On Monday this week, riot police
entered the campus and forced some 2,000 of the protestors on to
buses to sit their exams at the nearby Rangoon Institute of
Technology. 

All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)

For further information call 01 312 0325, 01 253 9082.