YANGON: Myanmar authorities said yesterday they had made a fresh round of arrests in response to a spate of protests demanding an apology for last month’s police crackdown on a rally at a Chinese-backed copper mine.
Demonstrations have been held across the country also known as Burma in a continuing show of public anger at injuries, including severe burns, sustained by dozens of monks in a pre-dawn raid on protest camps at the mine.
“Some activists were arrested for questioning,” a police official said, asking not to be named. He said they were picked up in the second-biggest city Mandalay for protesting without permission.
Activist organisation the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, which took part in street action this week, said eight people were arrested late Thursday.
Four are still in custody after refusing bail on financial grounds, said the group’s Moe Htet Myay.
“They said that they didn’t commit any crime. We are monitoring the situation,” he said
Hundreds of monks, supported by activists, staged demonstrations across Myanmar Wednesday to denounce the mine crackdown, which was the toughest action against demonstrators since the reformist government.
The wife of Thein Aung Myint, one of the arrested protesters, said her husband was taken from their home in the evening and had not returned.
“I think he was taken because of his involvement in the monk-led protest on December 12,” said Khet Khet Tin.
Last week Religious Affairs Minister Myint Maung apologised to some of the country’s most senior clerics for injuries to about 99 monks, state media said.
AFP
