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News Focus - Riot Police Seal off Y



Focus-Riot Police Seal off Yangon Protest Campus

            Reuters
            04-SEP-98

            YANGON, Sept 4 (Reuters)- Truckloads of riot police blocked
off a
            Yangon college on Friday after hundreds of students
protested again
            overnight against plans to relocate their campus, witnesses
said. 

            Between 500 and 900 students took part in the protest at the
Hlaing
            campus of the Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT),
diplomats
            contacted in Yangon from Bangkok said. They said the
demonstration
            appeared to have subsided by Friday morning. 

            A diplomat said his embassy was trying to confirm a report
that at
            least 100 students had been detained since protests began at
YIT on
            Wednesday. A spokesman for the military government could not
            immediately be reached for comment. 

            Witnesses said some 200 helmeted riot police were stationed
around
            the college on Friday morning. Traffic was not allowed on a
road
            through the campus and diplomats said students were
apparently not
            being allowed out. 

            "They've blocked off the campus and sent along large numbers
of riot
            police," one diplomat said. 

            The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) called on
the
            government to resolve the protests peacefully. 

            "The NLD...earnestly urges the authorities to make efforts
to resolve
            these peaceful demonstrations peacefully by understanding
            grievances and just desires of the students without
arresting or using
            violence against them," it said. 

            Protests this week at YIT have been the biggest since late
1996 and
            come at a time of increased tension between the government
and the
            NLD, which has vowed to call a parliament this month. 

            On Friday, Bohmu Aung, 88, one of six surviving leaders of
Myanmar's
            independence movement, said he had written to both the
government
            and opposition to urge them to hold urgent talks to resolve
their
            standoff. 

            One of the country's revered "30 Comrades," he said he had
made the
            appeal in the name of 23 veteran politicians. 

            Bohmu Aung has tried several times since being freed from
three
            years detention in 1992 to use his influence as a founder of
the armed
            forces to act as a bridge between opposition and government. 

            However, his previous calls for dialogue have been dismissed
by the
            military and the state media has attacked him as an old
troublemaker. 

            The students have presented a series of demands to the
authorities,
            but the main issue had become a government plan to relocate
classes
            of undergraduate students up to four hours away from the
current
            northern Yangon site, diplomats said. 

            They said the government's plan to split up the YIT campus
was part of
            a long-term scheme it began after violently suppressing a
student-led
            pro-democracy uprising in 1988. The plan was intended to
ensure that
            large numbers of students were not concentrated in urban
areas, they
            said. 

            The government has been building two new YIT campuses, one
about
            45 minutes drive from downtown Yangon, and another about
four hours
            drive from the city, the diplomats said. 

            Students had also complained that refresher courses ahead of
exams
            being held next week were too short. 

            The government has kept the country's universities closed
for most of
            the past decade to prevent student unrest, but last month
YIT reopened
            for the first time since late 1996 to allow for the
refresher courses
            ahead of final examinations. 

            Diplomats said the latest student protests had not been
overtly political
            and were not apparently connected to the NLD. 

            However, on Wednesday students shouted for the downfall of
the
            military government and in protests last month at Yangon
University,
            students expressed support for the NLD.