Dozens of student and community activists gathered outside Sule Pagoda on Saturday morning to mark 27 years since the August 8, 1988 democracy uprising.
About 3,000 students were massacred after historic anti-military protests that began in earnest on a rousing day almost three decades ago.
To remember them, and the others who were jailed and forced to flee the country, activists read poems and letters of condolence aloud near City Hall, the focal point of demonstrations.
The gathering continued at the office of pro-democracy group 88 Generation Students in Thingangyun Township.
Ko Sann, an 88 Generation member, said the authorities had asked them to organize the event at Kyaikkasan stadium, in Tamwe Township rather than at Sule.
He said he was threatened with prosecution for holding an illegal demonstration.
“I asked for permission but they just gave permission to hold it at Kyaikkasan stadium,” he told Coconuts Yangon. “But this is the historical place. I couldn’t make it at the other place.”
The August 1988 uprising was sparked by economic despair following decades of misrule by the military junta that swept to power through a coup in 1962.
An argument between students and government associates in a tea shop evolved into a mass student-led movement.
Although protesters outside Sule and elsewhere in Yangon were fired upon in August, demonstrations continued until mid-September, when the military led a co-ordinated crackdown.
About 3000 are believed to have been killed, and about the same number were jailed. Many others fled the country.
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