Student protesters face to face with police in Letpadan on March 10, 2015. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
A day after releasing 20 detainees who were rounded up as part of a larger group during a student-driven protest in Letpadan on March 10, local authorities have charged 69 other students, supporters and local residents on five counts, including rioting and disturbing public tranquility.
Robert San Aung, one of the defence attorneys, told the Democratic Voice of Burma that the additional charges announced at the Letpadan Township Court hearing on Wednesday are: intent to harm or disturb a civil servant while conducting official duties, continuing to be part of an unlawful assembly following orders to disperse, and being part of an unlawful assembly.
Eleven people were released on bail but charged on three counts that were not specified, DVB reported, while four student leaders who evaded detention were charged in absentia and declared “fugitives” by the court.
Authorities arrested more than 100 people on March 10 in Letpadan, thwarting an ongoing demonstration against a loathed education law, changes to which are still being considered by lawmakers. The protesters, many of them students, had been marching since January from Mandalay and were intent on finishing up in Yangon when they were swept up by authorities in Letpadan, about 90 miles to the north.
Dozens of students and detainees (including two reporters) have since been released, with the most recent group of 20 going free on Tuesday, the state-owned Global Night Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.
