Twenty Burmese student leaders detained by the authorities on Friday have been released.
They were held ahead of the anniversary of the suppression of a student movement 50 years ago.
Nearly three hundred people met in Rangoon to mark the event despite the detentions and the presence of plain-clothes police.Activists say the detentions prove that the Burmese military still has repressive tendencies, despite recent reforms.7 July is the 50th anniversary of the Burmese military's brutal suppression of student demonstrations, just four months after a coup by Gen Ne Win which began almost five decades of repressive rule. Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy, has said that the students' detention is another reminder that continued reform in Burma should not be taken for granted.
Student activists in at least three cities in Burma were taken into custody by local authorities on Friday to prevent them from going ahead with planned events to mark the 50th anniversary of a major crackdown on student protests by the country’s armed forces.
Sources said that around 14 activists were rounded up in Rangoon, Mandalay and Lashio, Shan State, on Friday night, and that security forces are on the alert today against protests to mark the killing of dozens of students by Burma’s former dictator Ne Win on July 7, 1962.
Ant Bwe Kyaw, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group, said that the detained activists in Rangoon, including De Nyein Linn, Sithu Maung, Phyo Phyo Aung and Ye Myat Hein, were released at around 11 am on Saturday. It was not clear, however, if the activists in Mandalay and Lashio have also been freed.
Sources said that around 20 police arrived at the Rangoon office of the 88 Generation Students group at about 10 pm on Friday looking for Kyaw Ko Ko and James, the organizers of a planned July 7 anniversary ceremony.
The police officials said they were “worried” about the planned event and that their superiors wanted to talk to its organizers, according to another member of the 88 Generation Students group.
Activists say the detentions prove that the Burmese military still has repressive tendencies, despite recent reforms.7 July is the 50th anniversary of the Burmese military's brutal suppression of student demonstrations, just four months after a coup by Gen Ne Win which began almost five decades of repressive rule.
Dozens were killed - and the following day the student union building at Rangoon University was dynamited.reports BBC
They were held ahead of the anniversary of the suppression of a student movement 50 years ago.
Nearly three hundred people met in Rangoon to mark the event despite the detentions and the presence of plain-clothes police.Activists say the detentions prove that the Burmese military still has repressive tendencies, despite recent reforms.7 July is the 50th anniversary of the Burmese military's brutal suppression of student demonstrations, just four months after a coup by Gen Ne Win which began almost five decades of repressive rule. Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy, has said that the students' detention is another reminder that continued reform in Burma should not be taken for granted.
Student activists in at least three cities in Burma were taken into custody by local authorities on Friday to prevent them from going ahead with planned events to mark the 50th anniversary of a major crackdown on student protests by the country’s armed forces.
Sources said that around 14 activists were rounded up in Rangoon, Mandalay and Lashio, Shan State, on Friday night, and that security forces are on the alert today against protests to mark the killing of dozens of students by Burma’s former dictator Ne Win on July 7, 1962.
Ant Bwe Kyaw, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group, said that the detained activists in Rangoon, including De Nyein Linn, Sithu Maung, Phyo Phyo Aung and Ye Myat Hein, were released at around 11 am on Saturday. It was not clear, however, if the activists in Mandalay and Lashio have also been freed.
Sources said that around 20 police arrived at the Rangoon office of the 88 Generation Students group at about 10 pm on Friday looking for Kyaw Ko Ko and James, the organizers of a planned July 7 anniversary ceremony.
The police officials said they were “worried” about the planned event and that their superiors wanted to talk to its organizers, according to another member of the 88 Generation Students group.
Activists say the detentions prove that the Burmese military still has repressive tendencies, despite recent reforms.7 July is the 50th anniversary of the Burmese military's brutal suppression of student demonstrations, just four months after a coup by Gen Ne Win which began almost five decades of repressive rule.
Dozens were killed - and the following day the student union building at Rangoon University was dynamited.reports BBC
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