Protests over gas prices spread. People are fedup with this junta.
- From: "labor" <labor@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:36:19 +0800
August 21, Democratic Voice of Burma - Protests over gas prices spread
Hundreds of protestors marched through Rangoon and clashed with government
supporters today in a series of separate demonstrations against the
military's decision to raise gas prices last week. Members of the National
League for Democracy and the 88 Generation Students group, who marched from
Tamwe township's Shwe Baho clinic to the NLD headquarters on Shwegondine
road, were threatened by men armed with slingshots and sticks. A woman who
joined the protest march told DVB that the men followed the demonstrators,
shouting abuse and ordering them to take public transport. "A pack of thugs
followed us all the way to the Six Storey pagoda and harassed us. They
threatened to beat us up. They also tried to force us to take buses," the
woman said on condition of anonymity. The chairman of the NLD's Yankin
branch, U Myo Khin, and six other NLD members said that when they arrived in
Tamwe to join the start of the protest march, they were physically forced
onto a bus by a group of about 50 men. "We arrived in front of the Tamwe
plaza and saw about 40 to 50 people sitting there. When we passed them they
got up and grabbed weapons they had hidden in a nearby truck. It was quite a
scene in front of the bystanders," U Myo Khin said, adding that after the
activists were forced onto the bus they got off at the next stop and started
walking. Another group of NLD members were also harassed outside Tamwe plaza
in a separate incident. Ma Nemo Hlaing, an NLD youth member, said as she
approached the building with four colleagues, a group of about 90 men
threatened to kill her if she joined the protests. "They threatened to beat
us to death on the spot if we continued to walk and told us to get into a
car. We refused and told them they could do anything they wanted to us but
we would keep walking . . . eventually they let us go," Ma Nemo Hlaing said.
Students were also seen handing out leaflets outside the Western and Eastern
Rangoon universities and the Hlaing Tharyar bus station today, encouraging
people to join protests against the gas prices over the next week. A bus
passenger who was given a leaflet said that he was determined to join
protests led by the students in Rangoon tomorrow. "On the leaflet is said
that the activists were demanding lower commodity prices . . . We welcome
this as we have been waiting for that day for so long. We will join them,"
the man told DVB. A group of shoe factory workers from Hlaing Tharyar also
released a statement today saying that they would join public protestors
tomorrow if the government failed to lower the gas prices and refused to
respond to their demands for better working conditions. The NLD said
yesterday that if the government continued to refuse to address the
deepening economic crisis in Burma it could expect widespread unrest. "[The
increased gas prices] have caused the prices of all commodities to rise . .
.. and this has forced the people into a greater state of poverty. It is the
government's responsibility if public unrest spreads," the NLD said.
August 21, Shwe Gas Movement - The Shwe Gas Movement condemns Burma's
domestic fuel price hikes while junta profits from record natural gas
exports. The Shwe Gas Movement condemns the sudden doubling of key fuel
prices in Burma while the regime is earning a record $2.16 billion from
natural gas exports. Despite the growing civil discontent over the price
hikes, the regime is steamrolling ahead to further export major new gas
finds. Wong Aung from the Shwe Gas Movement in Thailand says, "instead of
generating profits for the corrupt generals, Burma's gas could be used to
generate electricity, develop local industries and subsidize transportation
costs. Energy policies should be made with the peoples' needs in mind."
.
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