ID :
149047
Sun, 11/07/2010 - 18:58
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/149047
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Myanmar migrant workers in Mae Sot protest election
TAK, Nov 7 -- More than 50 Myanmar migrant workers demonstrated briefly in the Thai-Myanmar border district of Mae Sot on Sunday, protesting a general election in their country and demanding that the military junta release Burmese democracy-icon Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, Thai police said.
Holding placards written in Burmese denouncing the election, the first in Myanmar in two decades, the protesting workers gathered at the Mae Sot municipality office and read a statement urging their countrymen living in and outside Myanmar not to accept the outcome of the election.
They also demanded that the Myanmar government release Mrs Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), who is now under house arrest.
The Myanmar government has promised to release her less than a week after the election, boycotted by the NLD, which won the 1990 general election. The results were never accepted by the ruling generals.
Saw Toon, a leader of the protesters, said Sunday’s election was just meant to allow the generals to cling to power in ruling Myanmar, considered by the United Nations as one of the poorest countries in the world.
A number of Thai police and provincial authorities were present during the demonstration which lasted about an hour before the protesters dispersed. No violence was reported during the gathering.
Despite the demonstration and called for Myanmar people to boycott the general election, a large number of Myanmar migrant workers living in Mae Sot returned to their townships to vote under the watchful eyes of Thai border policemen and soldiers who were seen lining the Moei River which is the border between the two countries. (MCOT online news)
Holding placards written in Burmese denouncing the election, the first in Myanmar in two decades, the protesting workers gathered at the Mae Sot municipality office and read a statement urging their countrymen living in and outside Myanmar not to accept the outcome of the election.
They also demanded that the Myanmar government release Mrs Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), who is now under house arrest.
The Myanmar government has promised to release her less than a week after the election, boycotted by the NLD, which won the 1990 general election. The results were never accepted by the ruling generals.
Saw Toon, a leader of the protesters, said Sunday’s election was just meant to allow the generals to cling to power in ruling Myanmar, considered by the United Nations as one of the poorest countries in the world.
A number of Thai police and provincial authorities were present during the demonstration which lasted about an hour before the protesters dispersed. No violence was reported during the gathering.
Despite the demonstration and called for Myanmar people to boycott the general election, a large number of Myanmar migrant workers living in Mae Sot returned to their townships to vote under the watchful eyes of Thai border policemen and soldiers who were seen lining the Moei River which is the border between the two countries. (MCOT online news)
