[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
AP: 05/27/97 Burma Military Blocks
- Subject: AP: 05/27/97 Burma Military Blocks
- From: Winston_Lee@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 06:57:00
Subject: AP: 05/27/97 Burma Military Blocks Roads
Burma Military Blocks
Roads
Tuesday, May 27, 1997 5:28 am EDT
RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Heavily armed riot police
blocked roads leading to the homes of
pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her deputies today to
prevent supporters from commemorating their 1990
election victory.
Police also used barbed wire barricades to seal
the
office of the National League for Democracy, the
party
that Suu Kyi leads. The opposition party won 82
percent of the seats in a Parliament that the
military
regime refused to convene.
At least 316 members of Suu Kyi's party who had
planned to attend today's commemoration have been
arrested by Burma's military government, the
party's
vice chairman, Tin Oo, said Monday. Troops
surrounded his home this morning.
More than 200 other party members from across
Burma came to Rangoon in hopes of participating in
the
congress at Suu Kyi's lakeside compound, a party
member said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
All were turned back this morning by police and
plainclothes intelligence officers as they tried
to
approach their leaders' homes. No new arrests were
reported.
Ten members of the party's executive committee had
already arrived at Suu Kyi's compound before it
was
sealed off.
Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her
efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled
Burma. In
1995, she was released from six years of house
arrest
for her political activities.
Since then, she has consistently called for the
military to
honor results of the 1990 election. The United
Nations
has also urged the military government to accept
the
election results and return power to the people.
The military keeps guards around Suu Kyi's home to
block journalists and prevent her from giving
weekend
speeches to the public, but has allowed her to
have
several hundred supporters as guests on public
holidays.
This is the second straight year that the
government has
arrested hundreds of Suu Kyi's followers to
prevent
them from commemorating the 1990 election.
The government has denied it has arrested anyone.
It
made the same denial after detaining 262 members
of
Suu Kyi's party in 1996. About two dozen party
members the government insisted it never arrested
are
now serving long prison terms.
The United States, Japan, Britain, Germany and
several
other western governments have condemned the
arrests.
? Copyright 1997 The Associated Press
Back to the top