By DPA
Yangon : Myanmar’s junta has detained at least nine leaders of the 88 Generation Students dissident group in a major crackdown on civil unrest in Yangon in the wake of last week’s fuel price hikes, sources said Wednesday.
Three members of the Myanmar Development Committee, another pro-democracy group, and five university students have also been detained, dissident sources said.
Security personnel arrested Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Ko Mya Aye, Ko Jimmy, Ant Bwe Kyaw, Ko Ant Bwe Kyaw and others Tuesday night after a day of sporadic protests against Myanmar’s rising inflation and deteriorating economic conditions.
The arrests occurred Tuesday night, sources said.
Ko Ant Bwe Kyaw, for instance, was taken from his home at 10:30 pm. Police then came back to his home and conducted a thorough search, confiscating 26 items before leaving after midnight.
The 88 Generation Students are one of the few dissident groups remaining in Myanmar, which has been under the equivalent of martial law since a brutal army crackdown on mass anti-military demonstrations in Sep 1988.
The 88 Generation Students group comprises former student leaders who participated in the 1988 demonstrations, who are now committed to non-violent means of undermining military rule and ushering in democracy.
Their arrests drew immediate condemnation from human rights organisations and Myanmar democracy activists living abroad.
“Min Ko Naing and the other leaders arrested have all been severely tortured during previous incarcerations and we are gravely concerned for their immediate well-being,” said Aung Din, policy director at the US Campaign for Burma. “We call on China and the United Nations to take immediate action to ensure their safety and release.”
The arrests precede a planned visit by United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari in the coming weeks and months after China vetoed a peaceful UN Security Council resolution that would have strengthened the hand of the UN in dealing with Myanmar.
Sources said the crackdown was linked to heightening unrest in Myanmar’s former capital, over the doubling of fuel prices last week, which has led to a doubling in transportation costs and rising inflation.
There were sporadic protests in Yangon Monday and Tuesday against the fuel price hikes and a major demonstration was planned Wednesday.
On Tuesday, police and so-called pro-government “patriots” blocked hundreds of dissidents, led by 88 Generation Students, who attempting to march to the headquarters of the National League of Democracy (NLD) in Yangon.
The NLD, headed by detained democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi, had warned authorities in a statement Monday that demonstrations would break out unless they reversed last week’s decision to more than double benzine and diesel prices at state petrol stations.
On Monday evening, Buddhist monks in the precincts of Kabaraye Pagoda and Thanlyin also staged protests against the deteriorating economic conditions. The monkhood has a long history of political activism in Myanmar.
Monks joined students in the 1988 anti-military demonstrations that rocked the nation that year, ending in a bloodbath.
Myanmar has been suffering double-digit inflation since last year. The recent fuel price hikes, which also applied to compressed natural gas (CNG) used by the public buses, have more than doubled transportation costs.
The nationwide anti-military demonstrations of 1988 were sparked by growing discontent with the country’s deteriorating economy, combined with mounting frustration with the country’s military dictatorship.
In 1987, Myanmar, once Asia’s leading rice exporter, was downgraded to a Least Developed Developing Country (LDDC) status at the United Nations as a means of lessening its international debt burden.
The impoverished status led to widespread disillusionment with the so-called “Burmese Way to Socialism” advocated by the military since it seized power with a coup in 1962.