Police violently broke up protests in Letpadan on March 10. PHOTO/AFP/PHYO HEIN KYAW
Police officers told a Yangon gallery hosting a photo exhibition on student protests to hide images of a recent crackdown, one of the photojournalists featured has said.
The show, ‘Documenting Burma’s Long March’, showing pictures from demonstrations that were violently broken up last month, closed early after the building’s owner worried the work was politically sensitive, The Irrawaddy reported.
The exhibition at Think Art Gallery on Nawaday Street opened on April 25 and was supposed to run until Monday, but doors were closed Sunday.
JPaing, a photojournalist for the Irrawaddy, said that on the opening day a police officer asked an employee to move images showing police beating students to dimly lit areas where they would be less visible.
“This hasn’t happened with other shows,” manager Aye Sang, who declined to elaborate on visits from the authorities but said he was asked many questions, told The Irrawaddy. “But this is a sensitive issue so all of my relatives were worried and asked us to stop.”
Aye Sang’s older brother is the owner of the building, the magazine reported.
Education reform protests came to a violent conclusion last month after police broke up a gathering of students in Letpadan, detaining more than 120. A total of 70 are still in custody.
The students had begun a march from Mandalay to Yangon in January.
