SCMP-Police out in numbers for 'fou

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Subject: SCMP-Police out in numbers for 'four-nines' day

South China Morning Post
Friday, September 10, 1999
BURMA

Police out in numbers for 'four-nines' day
REUTERS in Rangoon

Extra police, including riot-control units, were deployed in Rangoon
yesterday ready to smother a "four-nines day" uprising called by exiled
dissidents.
But there were no signs of the street protests the dissidents had called for
on September 9, 1999, as a repeat of the mass uprising on "four eights
day" - August 8, 1988 - that shook the foundations of authoritarian rule,
only to be crushed in a bloody reassertion of military power.

While Rangoon was quiet, Burmese dissidents abroad staged noisy protests
demanding a transfer of power to the opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD), which won a 1990 election but has never been allowed to
govern.

In Australia, about 50 protesters smashed fences and overpowered police to
break into the Burmese Embassy in Canberra, where they tried to rip down the
national flag.

In Melbourne, about 90 people, mostly exiles, chanted and sang on the steps
of Victoria's state Parliament.

Outside the Burmese Embassy in Thailand, more than 400 exiles shouted
slogans and burned the Burmese flag at 9.09am.

On the Thai side of the Moei River, about 200 exiles wearing red
pro-democracy headbands shouted slogans at stony-faced Burmese soldiers on
the far bank.

"We are gathering here because we think not many people can make protests in
Rangoon, because there are too many troops," said one of the exiles.

"The fact we are here is a clear indication the Burmese people want
democracy."

Rangoon residents said the city was unusually quiet. Many people stayed at
home or did not open their businesses for fear of trouble and because it was
the Buddhist holy day. Schools, which have been hotbeds of dissent, were
closed.

Despite the dissidents' call for a general strike, public transport appeared
to run normally and government offices opened. But traffic was lighter than
usual, streets were almost deserted and few pavement hawkers turned out.

Extra police were deployed at strategic points in the capital, including the
US Embassy and the Sule Pagoda, focal points for protests during the 1988
uprising.

They shut the road running past the headquarters of 1991 Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD, which had planned to distribute rice to the
poor.

Diplomats estimate authorities have arrested more than 100 people in Rangoon
and others in the provinces in the past month to thwart a potential
uprising. Exiles say more than 500 people have been arrested.

Unofficial curfews have been imposed in provincial towns and parts of
Rangoon.

The military Government has reported fewer than 40 arrests and has ridiculed
the uprising call as a "numerically obsessed" campaign.

"Everyone knows today is a special day," said one diplomat. "But we weren't
expecting anything to happen because I think people are too scared. Also,
this movement, if it is a movement, is too disorganised because the
Government has too many military intelligence agents out there who can stop
things."