Bangkok post (1-9-99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

junta denies plan to close all schools 
Burma's military rulers denied yesterday they would close schools throughout
the country, amid calls by dissidents for a mass uprising next month. 
In a statement received by AFP in Bangkok, the All Burma Students' Democratic
Front (ABSDF) said the junta planned to close schools during the first two
weeks of September in an effort to quell support for a mass uprising on
September 9. 
"This unscheduled holiday includes all students ftom primary school level
through to postgraduates,""an ABSDF statement said., 
The vast majority of universities have been closed since unrest in 1996 and
have traditionally been a hotbed of political opposition to the junta. 
However, a statement received from the junta said "the.news that schools will
be closed in the beginning of September is not true." 
The ABSDF also said six students in the Daw Bon and Thar Kay Ta town- ships in
Rangoon were detained on Friday for handing out pamphlets calling for
widespread protests on September 9. The ABSDF said a total of 35 students had
been arrested in Rangoon in recent weeks and security at high schools had been
tightened after several student protests on the outskirts of the capital. The
junta has not responded to the claims of arrests.