Myanmar’s junta cracks down as protest rallies spread

MYANMAR’S military government quashed a new protest yesterday by pro-democracy supporters in downtown Yangon, as activists said the protests spread to other parts of the country.

Twenty demonstrators, mainly women, gathered near Yangon’s city hall to protest a massive hike in fuel prices, which has sparked the most sustained anti-junta protests in at least nine years.

“They were arrested before they could do anything,” said an activist who witnessed the incident.

The protesters were taken inside city hall, which is under tight security and surrounded by barricades and heavy transport trucks, the activist said.

Dozens of people have already been arrested over protests this week, including some of the country’s most prominent pro-democracy activists.

“There will be more protests. We are trying to hold more protests in the future. But right now we have to make a plan, because we don’t want to lose our strength,” one activist said.

Myanmar’s junta keeps a tight lid on any dissent but analysts say the regime has been shaken by the protesters’ persistence.

About 500 people marched through Yangon on Sunday having been angered by last week’s fuel price increase, which doubled transport fares and left many workers unable to afford even the bus fare to get to their jobs.

The march was followed by more rallies on Wednesday and Thursday, both of which ended with police arresting many of the protesters.

The government has only confirmed the arrests of 13 members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group.

The group is made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against military rule in 1988, which ended with soldiers firing into the crowd and killing thousands.

Among those arrested was Min Ko Naing, who was released in 2004 after 15 years in prison. He has spent another four months in detention since then. Min Ko Naing is considered Myanmar’s most important pro-democracy leader after detained Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.