Burmese activist mark 18th anniversary of coup with demonstrations
Sep 18, 2006 (DVB) -
Burmese pro-democracy activists throughout the world today marked the 18th anniversary of the bloody military coup with noisy demonstrations outside the Burmese embassies.
Around 50 activists staged a demonstration outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok demanding the dissolution of pro-junta organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the complete suspension of the ‘National Convention’, the immediate end to the civil war and the release of all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.
One of the organisers of the demonstration, William Chit Sein said that a letter containing 18 demands to the country’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) was delivered into the hand of an embassy staff who came out to take photographs of the demonstrators.
Similarly, Burmese activists led by the National League for Democracy – Liberated Areas (NLD-LA) and the Democratic Party for New Society (DPNS) staged a demonstration outside the Burmese embassy at the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
“Everything was peaceful. They allowed us. There was no arrest,” a protestor told DVB.
At the Australian capital Canberra, Burmese activists staged an 18-hour-long hunger strike outside the Burmese embassy. At the Indian capital New Delhi, protestors staged a demonstration and demanded an end to the junta-sponsored ‘National Convention’, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and the cessation of the sale of weapons to the SPDC by the Indian government. In London, protestors also held an hour-long vigil outside the Burmese embassy.