(Breaking News) Further Unrest Fore

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Further unrest forecast in Yangon
Tue 25 Aug 98 - 09:41 GMT
BANGKOK, Aug 25 (AFP) - Further unrest was forecast in Yangon Tuesday after
riot police
broke up the biggest anti-government protests there in nearly two years,
foreign diplomats said.
"We are certainly expecting some more trouble, but at what level, we don't
know," said one
western envoy. "It could be like Monday, or it could be bigger."
The junta has warned the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi not to undermine
stability at a
meeting with senior members of her pro-democracy party.
Minister for Home Affairs Colonel Tin Hlaing met with opposition National
League for
Democracy (NLD) central executive committee officials on Monday to deliver the
message, the
state-run press said Tuesday.
"The minister told them to avoid acts which will undermine stability and peace
and the rule of
law in the country," the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
Diplomats said extra riot police had been deployed, particularly at Hledan
junction and the
Yangon Institute of Technology where the demonstrations occurred.
Riot police dispersed two demonstrations Monday, arresting dozens. No injuries
were
reported.
In the first incident, protestors were herded into trucks after being charged
by police with
batons and shields. It was the biggest such 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, who had been
cheering their
support as the activists chanted anti-junta slogans at Hledan intersection
outside Yangon
University, scattered as the riot police advanced on the demonstration.
Rocks were thrown and riot police mobilised during another demonstration later
Monday,
diplomats said.
Details remained sketchy, but foreign envoys said up to 100 students staged
the demonstration
near the Yangon Institute of Technology around 7:00 p.m. (1130 GMT).
"It's not even clear who threw the rocks. We're not sure if anyone was
arrested," one diplomat
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.
All Myanmar universities remain closed though exams are currently being held
for the first time.
"The government has taken a fairly firm line on these demonstrations," said
another western
diplomat.
"There has been zero tolerance. That contrasts with the attitude they are
taking with Aung San
Suu Kyi."
The demonstrations came as Aung San Suu Kyi ended a 13-day stand-off with the
junta amid
concerns about her health.
She had been camped out 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.
The NLD had
repeatedly claimed her health was worsening and said she had not eaten for 11
days.
The 53-year-old's condition was not known Tuesday but foreign diplomats said
they did not
believe it to be serious.
"She is a physically frail woman and the stand-off must have been quite an
ordeal," one added.
"But if it was serious, even if she protested, I don't think she would be
treated at home.
"Perhaps she just needs to rest for a few days."
Exiled opposition groups in Thailand, including parliament members elected in
the country's
1990 polls, Tuesday called on the junta to enter into direct dialogue with
Aung San Suu Kyi
and convene a parliament.
"In holding dialogues, the SPDC must talk on the basis of equality, with
delegates, including
Aung San Suu Kyi, chosen by the NLD," a statement from National Council of the
Union of
Burma (NCUB) said.
The junta, officially known as the State Peace and Development Council, or
SPDC, has
repeatedly refused direct dialogue with the NLD leader.
The opposition spearheaded by the NLD won elections by a landslide eight years
ago but the
junta has refused to allow it to form a government.
"If the SPDC military clique is sincere, it must immediately cease its
activities of persecution,
limitations and obstruction by various means against the NLD and the
parliament-elect," the
NCUB statement added.
The NLD Friday said it would convene a national parliament, despite junta
warnings the move
would be illegal.