An activist holds a white armband at a gathering in downtown Yangon on March 13. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
Students, writers and activists protesting the deployment of thugs wearing red armbands to disperse a protest in Yangon last week have launched a “white-armband” campaign that they hope will spread across the city.
The announcement, which came at a small gathering next to City Hall in Mahabandoola Park on Friday, marked the tail end of a week of violent crackdowns targeting students and their supporters, who oppose a much-loathed education law now being reviewed in parliament.
At least 120 students and activists opposing the current form of the legislation, which they say limits academic freedoms, were arrested on Tuesday in the central city of Letpadan, and while several have been released, dozens face charges that could result in lengthy prison terms. Some five students were also arrested in Yangon and Monywa in the ensuing days, while an AFP reporter was briefly detained, according to The Irrawaddy. It was not clear how many had been charged.
The Yangon protest happened days earlier, on March 5, and was organized to support the Letpadan activists.
In contrast with the red armbands emblazoned with the word “Duty” worn by auxiliary police forces at the March 5 crackdown next to City Hall and Sule Pagoda, the white armbands read “We are students, Respect our Rights.”
“The government thugs with red arm badges attacked the students who protest in front of City Hall on March 5, so we deeply disagree and we are against the violence, so we did this campaign,” said one of the leaders, Saung Kha, a poet.
Rights groups have slammed the use of government-backed thugs, calling it a throwback to the days of the military regime.
The campaigners plan to pass out the armbands on trains, buses and other places where large numbers of people gather. Though police were on the scene during the gathering, there were no arrests.
