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Burma thwarts uprising plan (r)
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<font size=3D5><b>Burma thwarts uprising plan</font></b><font size=3D3>=20
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<b>By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters, 09/10/99</b> <br>
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ANGOON - Burma's military rulers deployed extra police, including anti-riot=
units, yesterday as part of a security crackdown to prevent an uprising=
threatened by exiled dissidents. <br>
Amid tight security, and amid a heavy rain that fell much of the day, there=
were no signs in Burma of the street protests and general strikes urged by=
the dissidents for Sept. 9, 1999. <br>
The protests had been planned as a repeat of a mass revolt in 1988 which was=
crushed in a bloody reassertion of military power. <br>
Burmese dissidents in several cities abroad staged noisy protests demanding=
a transfer of power to the opposition National League for Democracy,=
winners of the last election in 1990, which was never allowed to govern.=
<br>
In Australia, about 50 protesters smashed fences and overpowered police to=
break into the Burmese Embassy in Canberra where they attempted to rip down=
the national flag. In Melbourne, about 90 people, mostly Burmese exiles=
wearing red armbands, chanted and sang on the steps of Victoria's state=
parliament. <br>
Outside the embassy in Thailand, more than 400 exiles shouted slogans and=
burned the flag of Myanmar, the name the military regime has given to=
Burma. And on the Thai side of the Moei River frontier about 200 exiles=
shouted slogans at stony faced Burmese soldiers on the other bank. <br>
In Kuala Lumpur, about 50 Burmese dissidents and Malaysian activists staged=
a peaceful protest for human rights in Burma. <br>
''We are gathering here because we think not many people can make protests=
in Rangoon because there are too many troops,'' said Yai Min Aung,=
protesting at the Bangkok embassy. <br>
The All Burma Students' Democratic Front, one of the exile groups that=
called the uprising, claimed students staged small ''cat and mouse''=
protests in Rangoon and in the northern city of Meiktila, but these could=
not be confirmed. <br>
''The whole country is peaceful and stable,'' a government spokesman said.=
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''I do hope antigovernment quarters ... come to realize that the=
overwhelming majority of people in Burma want peace, stability and=
development, not chaos and anarchy.'' <br>
Rangoon residents said the city was unusually quiet as many stayed home or=
did not open their businesses for fear of trouble and because it was the=
Buddhist sabbath. Schools, which have been hotbeds of dissent, were also=
closed for the sabbath. <br>
Despite a dissident call for a general strike, public transport appeared to=
run normally and government offices opened. <br>
Dozens of extra police, including some riot units, were deployed at=
strategic points, including the US Embassy and the Sule Pagoda, focal=
points of the 1988 uprising. <br>
Diplomats estimate that authorities have arrested over 100 people in the=
past month to thwart the uprising call and imposed an unofficial night=
curfew in provincial towns and parts of Rangoon. <br>
This story ran on page A24 of the Boston Globe on 09/10/99. <br>
=A9 </font><font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>Copyright</font></u><font=
color=3D"#000000"> 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. <br>
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