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NEWS - Myanmar democracy activists
- Subject: NEWS - Myanmar democracy activists
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 21:26:00
Subject: NEWS - Myanmar democracy activists say 29 charged amid protest
campaign
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Myanmar-arrests
Myanmar democracy activists say 29 charged amid protest campaign
BANGKOK, Aug 27 (AFP) - Exiled Myanmar democracy activists said
Friday 29
students, some as young as 14, had been charged over anti-government
protests
earlier this month.
The All Burma Student's Democratic Front (ABDSF) said if convicted,
the
students face jail terms of up to seven years, possibly with hard
labour.
The ABDSF, which has been calling for a mass uprising on September
9, said
high school students in the town of Mergui held several protests against
the
country's military rulers this month.
The junta has said the claims of student protests were fabricated by
the
ABDSF as part of a "campaign of disinformation."
The ABDSF called on the junta to release all political prisoners and
"halt
the ongoing hostile campaign against the National League for Democracy",
led
by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The NLD won an overwhelming victory in 1990 elections, but the result
was
ignored by the junta, which embarked on a campaign of arrests and
intimidation
of NLD members.
The ABDSF is among dissident groups calling for a mass uprising on
September 9 -- or 9/9/99. The symbolic date has led it to be known as
the
"Four Nines Movement."
August 8 this year marked the 11th anniversary of an earlier
uprising,
known as 8/8/88, in which hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators were
gunned
down and a junta took power from strongman General Ne Win.
That anniversary passed peacefully, but exile groups have said
Myanmar's
people have an "appointment" with September 9 to repeat the events of
1988 and
end the military's 37-year rule.
gw/rob