The Nation ( 18/8/99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

Burmese junta clamps down on student unrest

THE Burmese ruling junta yesterday beefed up security measures to prevent
student unrest in townships around the country following a protest in the
southern town of Mergui, a government spokesman said. 
A border source in Tak province bordering the Burmese town of Myawaddy, said
Myawaddy authorities have ordered locals against assemblies of more than five
people in support of anti-government movements which include the Karen Nation
Union, the Burmese government in-exile and the overseas Burmese students
movement. 
Yesterday morning, the authorities said those who are against the order
will be
dealt with severely. 
The government's measures also included increased vigilance of the border to
guard against possible espionage and assassination plots against the Burmese
leaders. 
Exiled Burmese dissidents said some 30 high school students, some as young as
14 and 15 years old, had been detained by authorities in the coastal town of
Mergui, 485 kilometres south of Rangoon, after taking part in an
anti-government demonstration. 
The Thailand-based All Burma Students' Democratic Front said in a statement
the
youths were detained on Aug 12. 
The demonstrators denounced the junta for the closure of universities since
1996 and chanted ''march ahead to the 9-9-99 movement,'' a reference to
dissident plans for a popular uprising next month. 
A junta spokesman acknowledged the demonstration had taken place and blamed
''a
small group of people for agitating students from one of the high schools in
the town.'' 
''Some of the students from that high school are being questioned by school
faculties and parents together with local township authorities,'' the
spokesman
said in a statement sent to AFP. 
He said the similar measures were now being taken in other towns ''to prevent
political extremists and unscrupulous elements from disrupting the children's
education and creating civil unrest.'' 
The Nation, Agence France-Presse