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AFP-Tight security in quiet Yangon



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: AFP-Tight security in quiet Yangon on uprising day

Tight security in quiet Yangon on uprising day
YANGON, Sept 9 (AFP) - Troops manned roadblocks and patrolled the streets
Thursday as authorities tightened a security net on Yangon after dissidents
called for a nationwide uprising to end decades of military rule.
Soldiers were out in force at government buildings and other sensitive sites
and few people apparently dared to venture outside with many shops and
restaurants closed, witnesses said.

Riot police also barred traffic and pedestrians from using the road leading
to the downtown headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"There would normally be more people around than this, people have
definitely stayed off the streets," said a Yangon-based diplomat.

"It is abnormally calm, there is very little traffic on the roads," said
another foreign envoy, who said many people would normally have congregated
outside as Thursday is a Buddhist holiday.

Activists hoped to incite unrest Thursday on the so-called Four Nines day or
9/9/99 in honour of hundreds gunned down in a student uprising on August 8,
1988 or 8/8/88.

Sources told AFP that dissidents would try to hold "cat and mouse"
demonstrations in the suburbs to frustrate security officers.

However, few observers and diplomats expect mass protests due to the tight
control exerted on the country by military intelligence.

Security was also beefed up in provincial cities and towns after the
government threatened to mete out tough treatment to any protesters.

There were no reports of any incidents, although the military's control
means it is often days before news of unrest reaches the outside world.

Sources in Yangon said however three foreigners tried to incite a protest in
a street close to the British and Australian embassies on Wednesday.

The unidentified group was chased into a nearby hotel but there were no
reports of arrests.

The reports came two days after British human rights activist Rachel
Goldwyn, 28, was arrested for singing pro-democracy songs in a Yangon
market.

Another Briton, 26-year-old James Mawdsley was sentenced to 17 years in jail
earlier this month. British envoys said Thursday they were still trying to
win access to the pair.

Activists have called a general strike and boycott of media controlled by
the junta. They have also been circulating leaflets in Yangon and other
towns and cities demanding freedom from military rule.

The government has denied reports that hundreds of activists, many veterans
of 1988 democracy protests, have been detained in recent weeks.

However, the junta has confirmed around 40 people were arrested in
connection with the campaign.

State media responded to the uprising with a call to ban the
"destructionist" NLD.

"We should stop watering this poisonous plan and get rid of it once and for
all," urged a commentator in an official newspaper.

The NLD won a landslide victory in a general election in 1990 but the
committee of generals which runs Myanmar has refused to cede power.

Hundreds of NLD members have been detained over the last year as part of an
operation which analysts say is designed to choke the party's ability to
organise.

Diplomats in Myanmar said the plans for the uprising had left many Burmese
torn by conflicting feelings.

"There is a general feeling of hope mixed at the same time with apathy and
worry -- it's a real Burmese mixture," a diplomat told AFP.

Even some in the pro-democracy movement admit there is likely to be little
direct action but say they hope September 9 will bring Myanmar closer to
democracy.

"September 9 will be a first step, so we want all the Myanmar people to join
the movement and show a green light for democracy," he said.

In neighbouring Thailand, around 300 protesters massed outside the Myanmar
embassy in Bangkok.

Nine demonstrators slashed their arms three times and wrote the numbers
'9999' in blood on paper bearing the initials of the Myanmar government, the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). They then set light to the
paper.