Fifty Burmese pro-democracy activists were arrested on Sunday while marching in Rangoon to pay respect to Burma’s independence heroes on Martyrs’ Day.
“At about 11 a.m., 50 activists were arrested near the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Rangoon,” said a source close to the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). “Not only NLD members but also other activists were among those arrested.”
“On the way to the Martyrs’ Mausoleum, there is a police checkpoint,” said a reporter in Rangoon. “The checkpoint only allows invited people and journalists. Without permission, nobody could enter the monument.”
Rangoon sources said Burmese authorities had tight security around the monument and Shwedagon Pagoda, which is located near the mausoleum. Security forces questioned people with cameras.
The NLD held a Martyrs’ Day ceremony at its headquarters in Rangoon which was monitored by authorities. An estimated 1,000 soldiers, riot police and officers in civilian clothes were stationed near the NLD office.
Sunday was the 62nd Martyrs’ Day in Burma, recognizing the assassination of the nation’s independence hero, Aung San, and key cabinet members on July 19, 1947.
The arrests in Burma be an issue at the Asean Ministerial Meeting now underway in Phuket, Thailand. On Monday, Asean foreign ministers are scheduled to adopt the Terms of Reference of the Asean Human Rights Body.
Since the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters across the country, Martyrs’ Day has become a kind of a political confrontation ground between security forces and pro-democracy activists.
Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, is currently on trial in the infamous Insein Prison in Rangoon. She donated food to ill inmates in the prison hospital on Saturday, according to her lawyer.
Irrawaddy correspondent Kyi Wai contributed reporting to this story from Rangoon.
irrawaddy
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