AFP-Myanmar security dampens uprisi

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Subject: AFP-Myanmar security dampens uprising hopes

Myanmar security dampens uprising hopes
YANGON, Sept 9 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta snuffed out threats of a dissident
uprising in rain-drenched Yangon Thursday by tightening the security net
which has underpinned years of military rule.
Road blocks were erected around government buildings while fewer citizens
and more police than normal were on the streets but no unrest was reported,
diplomats said.

For most markets and restaurants it was business as usual despite reports
that tea-shops had been asked to closed by the military intelligence.

"There has not been any sign of protests or anything out of the usual," said
one Yangon-based diplomat.

"There are reports of pro-democracy posters going up in some areas but I
haven't seen any yet."

"There are slightly more police on the street than normal."

No reports were available of dissident activity in the provinces, where
observers said unrest was most likely to occur. So tight is the grip of the
military on the country that news of any incidents often takes days to
emerge.

Exiled activists however said four small "cat and mouse" demonstrations took
place in Yangon suburbs and more were planned later.

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.

They called a general strike and boycott of state media. Leaflets have also
been circulated in Yangon and other towns and cities demanding freedom from
military rule.

The junta gradually stepped up always tight security in the weeks leading up
to 9/9/99, and threatened to mete out tough treatment to any protesters.

"The streets are unusually quiet and there are a few shops shut, but then
again today is a Buddhist holiday so you would expect it to be a bit quieter
than normal," said one foreign envoy.

Another diplomat said that some businesses were closed, probably because
employers were keen to avoid trouble, not because workers had responded to a
call for a general strike.

"That was, as far as we are concerned, voluntary by nervous employers just
not sure and taking precautions," said the diplomat.

In one symbolic display of security, police blocked the road leading to the
headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) of opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel laureate did not openly endorse calls for unrest but made no
attempt to condemn them.

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

However, it confirmed around 40 people were arrested.

Sources in Yangon said 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.

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

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.

In 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.