Pro-junta thugs in Myanmar clashed yesterday with hundreds of supporters of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hurling abuse and preventing them from marching to a vigil for the detained Nobel laureate, witnesses said.
Holding photos of the 61-year-old, as many as 500 members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party shouted "Free Aung San Suu Kyi" as they staged a rally outside the party's headquarters in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.
The supporters had intended to go on to a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Yangon to pray for Suu Kyi's release, but were blocked by about 100 supporters of the junta, leading to a tense stand off, witnesses said.
The junta supporters shouted abuse at the other side for about 15 minutes, and one NLD elected member was dragged away by them, witnesses said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
"Please understand that we are not frightened by your threats ... we will proceed with peaceful gatherings," Min Ko Naing, a prominent anti-government activist, was quoted as telling the junta supporters.
"We can pray for her from here," he said from outside the NLD head office.
Police vans were parked nearby and the rally ended peacefully.
The junta is also believed to be holding about 1,200 political prisoners, most of them elected members of the NLD.
"Release immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners of conscience including members of parliament who are imprisoned for their beliefs," the NLD said in a statement.
The rally came two days after the junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest for a fifth year. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 11 of the past 17 years in detention.
The order keeping her under house arrest at her residence in Yangon was due to expire yesterday, but officials told her of its one-year extension on Friday afternoon.
Authorities have since beefed up security near Suu Kyi's lakeside residence and extended barbed wire barricades on her street. Her street was closed to traffic and police with batons were deployed near roadblocks.
"Extending the detention by one more year amounts to ignoring calls by world leaders for her release," a statement by the NLD said.
In a letter last week to Senior General Than Shwe, the junta's chief, 59 former world leaders -- including ex-US presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and former British prime ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher -- urged Suu Kyi's release.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy activists urged the military junta to accept the results of the 1990 election yesterday -- the 17th anniversary of the ballot, in which Suu Kyi's party won an overwhelming victory.
The results were rejected by the military regime, which claimed that it first needed to draft a constitution.
It has never been completed.
"Calling for a political solution based on the 1990 election results does not mean demanding power, but achieving national reconciliation and democratization," the 88 Generation group, named after the year in which the military brutally suppressed democracy protests, said in a statement.
ACTION PLAN: Taiwan would expand procurement from the US and encourage more companies to invest in the US to deepen bilateral cooperation, Lai said The government would not impose reciprocal tariffs in retaliation against US levies, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he announced five strategies to address the issue, including pledging to increase Taiwanese companies’ investments in the US. Lai has in the past few days met with administrative and national security officials, as well as representatives from various industries, to explore countermeasures after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday last week announced a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese imports. In a video released yesterday evening, Lai said that Taiwan would not retaliate against the US with higher tariffs and Taiwanese companies’ commitments to
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
‘SPECIAL CHANNEL’: Taipei’s most important tasks are to stabilize industries affected by Trump’s trade tariffs and keep negotiations with Washington open, a source said National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) arrived in the US for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported earlier. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on Jan. 20. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was also a part of the delegation. The visit came days after China concluded war games around Taiwan and amid Trump’s
HELPING HAND: The steering committee of the National Stabilization Fund is expected to hold a meeting to discuss how and when to utilize the fund to help buffer the sell-off The TAIEX plunged 2,065.87 points, or 9.7 percent, to close at 19,232.35 yesterday, the highest single-day percentage loss on record, as investors braced for US President Donald Trump’s tariffs after an extended holiday weekend. Amid the pessimistic atmosphere, 945 listed companies led by large-cap stocks — including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Largan Precision Co (大立光) — fell by the daily maximum of 10 percent at the close, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The number of listed companies ending limit-down set a new record, the exchange said. The TAIEX plunged by daily maxiumu in just
RSS