Myanmar cracks down on education protest at Yangon pagoda

YANGON — Police freed eight demonstrators today (March 6) after they were detained a day earlier in a crackdown on students and activists opposing Myanmar’s new education law.

Activist Kyaw Min Yu from the 88 Generation Open Society confirmed that all eight, including his wife, Nilar Thein, were freed. Mr Kyaw Min Yu said his wife was hit in the head when police charged the protesters with batons and dragged them into trucks at a landmark pagoda in the heart of the old capital.

Several demonstrators were slightly injured, witnesses and an activist said.

About 30 protesters — including Mrs Nilar Thein and other student leaders — had gathered in front of the Sule Pagoda yesterday to call on the government to amend an education law they say restricts academic freedom.

Minutes after telling the group to disperse, baton-wielding police and thuggish men hired to carry out the crackdown started chasing down the protesters.

Since Myanmar started moving from a half-century of brutal military rule toward democracy four years ago, the government has found itself grappling with the consequences of newfound freedoms of expression. Many of the initial reforms that marked President Thein Sein’s early days in office have stalled or begun rolling back, with the government showing particular sensitivity about public rallies and criticism in the press.

On Wednesday, police detained more than a dozen workers protesting for higher wages and better working conditions at factories in two industrial zones just outside Yangon.

In recent days, the government warned it would “take action” if student protesters who were stopped at a monastery in Letpadan tried marching to Yangon, 140 kilometres to the south.

The groups at Letpadan and at Sule Pagoda have similar aims. They want the government to scrap a law passed by parliament in September that puts all decisions about education policy and curriculum in the hands of a group largely made up of government ministers. Students say the law undermines the autonomy of universities, which are still struggling to recover after clampdowns on academic independence and freedom during the military’s rule.

In Washington, two US lawmakers denounced what they described as authorities’ violent tactics against peaceful protesters in Yangon.

“This is completely inconsistent with a transition to democracy and President Thein Sein’s pledges to handle disagreements peacefully,” Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley and Republican Rep. Steve Chabot said in a statement. AP