Police Move Out of Historic Pagoda

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar police move out of historic pagoda after "clean-up"
Thu 27 Aug 98 - 06:14 GMT
YANGON, Aug 27 (AFP) - Police moved out of Myanmar's historic Shwedagon Pagoda
Thursday having finished what they described was a "clean-up" of the Buddhist
landmark,
sources said.
Truck-loads of riot police reinforcements were moved into strategic sites
around the capital
Wednesday, including the University of Yangon, Shwedagon Pagoda and the Yangon
University of Technology, diplomats and residents said.
Residents of the capital said the police left the pagoda Thursday, re-opening
it to tourists and
worshippers.
Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
maiden
political speech, made at Shwedagon Pagoda after her selection as a National
League for
Democracy party candidate.
Diplomats earlier noted that police seemed to have been stationed at places of
significance for
the opposition, including hotspots of student unrest in previous uprisings
against the junta.
On Monday police dispersed student demonstrators in the first street protests
in the capital for
almost two years. Some protesters and bystanders were detained but no injuries
were
reported.
The United States has stepped up efforts to highlight alleged human rights
abuses in Myanmar,
with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright calling regional leaders to
express concern
about opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a US government spokesman said in
Washington.
Albright telephoned the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines
and Thailand over
the weekend to discuss the situation in Myanmar where Aung San Suu Kyi has
been barred
from traveling outside the capital.
A Thai foreign ministry spokesman could not confirm Thursday whether any such
call had taken
place.
Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Yangon on Monday after a 13-day standoff outside
the capital
with security forces who prevented her from meeting supporters.
US embassy officials in Yangon plan to visit to the Nobel peace prize winner
"as soon as her
health permits," the spokesman said