AFP-Rocks thrown at second student

[kyawkyaw@xxxxxxx]

Rocks thrown at second student rally in Myanmar: diplomats

       Tue 25 Aug 98 - 04:53 GMT 

       BANGKOK, Aug 25 (AFP) - Rocks were thrown and riot police mobilised
during a second student demonstration
       against Myanmar's military government in Yangon late on Monday,
diplomats said.

       Sources at foreign embassies on Tuesday said up to 100 students
staged the demonstration near the Yangon Institute
       of Technology around 7 p.m. (1130 GMT). 

       Rocks were thrown and riot police were present but details of the
protest were unclear, diplomats said.

       "It's not even clear who threw the rocks. We're not sure if anyone
was arrested," one diplomat said.

       Dozens of people were arrested in the early afternoon Monday after
police with batons and shields charged the
       biggest protest since December 1996, witnesses and diplomats said.

       "They just swept through and dispersed them," said one source,
adding no serious violence was seen.

       Witnesses said up to 150 protestors and some 1,000 onlookers fled as
the riot police moved on the demonstration.

       Roads up to six kilometres (four miles) away from the Hledan
junction beside Yangon University were closed before
       police dispersed the crowd.

       The first demonstration began around 12:30 p.m. (0500 GMT) when the
protestors sat down in the middle of the
       junction, sources said.

       Sources noted the technology institute and Hledan junction were the
two key sites in 1996 demonstrations which led
       to the junta's closure of universities.

       The demonstrations came as leading opposition figure Aung San Suu
Kyi ended her roadside stand-off with the junta
       after 13 days and returned to her home in Yangon.

       Aung San Suu Kyi had been camped in a minibus 25 kilometres (15
miles) northwest of Yangon since being blocked
       from travelling to meet provincial supporters. 

       It was her fourth failed bid in little over a month to travel
outside Yangon.