JAPAN/THAILAND: Myanmar residents in Thailand and Japan demonstrate at the harsh crackdown on peaceful protests in Yangon

Record ID: 463583

  • Title: JAPAN/THAILAND: Myanmar residents in Thailand and Japan demonstrate at the harsh crackdown on peaceful protests in Yangon
  • Date: 29th September 2007
  • Summary: (ASIA) TOKYO, JAPAN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2007) (REUTERS) JAPANESE POLICE GUARDING THE ENTRANCE TO THE MYANMAR EMBASSY IN TOKYO
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3GFMK0BJ7FSJFSLMSHCIXVDN
  • Story Text: Around 40 Burmese students staged a peaceful protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok on Saturday (September 29) to denounce the harsh crackdown in that country on non-violent protesters and show solidarity with their countrymen.
    The protesters, wearing student uniforms, held up banners like "Free Burma" and "No Brain, Heart, Shame, SPDC". The SPDC is Myanmar's ruling junta. Some held up posters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kgi, who has been under house arrest for more than 11 of the last 17 years.
    The students held a moment of silence for their countrymen and then sang the national anthem.
    "I want to send a message to the SPDC to stop killing monks and stop the violence in Burma. We just need everyone to love, we love our country and our people. That's my message," said Naung Naung, a 23-year-old computer management student at St. John's University in Bangkok.
    In Japan, about thirty Burmese residents staged another day of protests in front of the Myanmar embassy in Tokyo, shouting slogans in Burmese.
    Some held pictures of monks and locals in Myanmar being beaten by soldiers of the ruling military junta. Others had placards reading "Stop the Killings" and "Free Aung San Suu Kyi", the Nobel Peace prize winner.
    "I hope stop at once now! Stop shooting inside Burma. We don't need to, we don't want more blood situation. Bloody thing, we don't need more," said Nyi Nyi Iwin, a member of the National League for Democracy and a member of the 1988 student protests who found refuge in Japan after fleeing the crackdown then.
    Around 3,000 people are thought to have been killed as soldiers responded with force in the crackdown 19 years ago.
    United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari travels to Myanmar on Saturday carrying worldwide hopes he can persuade the ruling generals to use negotiations instead of guns.
    The current protests in Yangon started in reaction to shock fuel price rises and have swelled into a mass uprising against 45 years of military rule led by monks, the moral core of the Buddhist nation. State media has admitted that nine people have been killed, but many fear this figure is grossly understated.
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