RANGOON STUDENT DEMONSTRATION GROWS

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

A STUDENT DEMONSTRATION GROWS IN SIZE IN RANGOON

Wed 2 Sept 98 10h.46 GMT

RANGOON 2 Sept (AFP) -, a student demonstration against the Burmese
military regime grew in size on Wednesday in Rangoon, involving more than
1,000 students and the deployment of hundreds of riot police, according to
witnesses.

At first the demonstration only mustered about 150 students and, according
to diplomats contacted by telephone, the number of security forces was
"rather small", though the streets leading to the Institute of Technology
were ringed with law-enforcement personnel.

According to witnesses, up to 800 students who had gathered at the YIT
[Yangon Institute of Technology] chanted anti-junta slogans while several
hundred others demonstrated on the Hlaing campus, shared by the YIT and
Rangoon University.

At least six lorries, each carrying about 50 riot police were seen at
Hlaing, which is about 3km south of the YIT. Diplomats and witnesses stated
that about 200 more police were deployed round the main Institute campus.

According to these sources, law-enforcement personnel equipped with batons
and shields blocked the streets but did not disperse the demonstrators.


[the rest of the article contains mainly background and analyisis] 
	
(UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH BY DAVID ARNOTT]