Junta Beefs Up Security in Rangoon

The Burmese military government is beefing up security as it intensifies its crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents in Rangoon, according to sources in the former capital.

Four unidentified activists were arrested in Rangoon on Thursday and Friday by authorities—members of Military Affairs Security department, a local resident told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

Sources said that security forces were beefed up in several townships in Rangoon, including the downtown area, ahead of UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari’s arrival on Thursday. Sources say the regime fears protests during the envoy’s stay.

Local sources said plain clothes security guards and riot police equipped with arms, tear gas and batons were deployed in downtown areas, especially around Sule Pagoda, where Burmese troops opened fire on crowds of demonstrators during the September uprising.

A reporter in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Friday: “There are many security guards and they are spread around the city. There are many more at Sule Pagoda and at city hall.”

Meanwhile, an eyewitness in Rangoon said that a truck dropped off more than a dozen people, believed to be members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in front of the University of Foreign Languages and Rangoon University on Friday morning. It is thought that the USDA members have been deployed to keep an eye on the students and gather any information about anti-junta activities.

Kyaw Kyaw, an activist who is also one of the leaders of students’ group Generation Wave, founded in 2007 after the military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, said: “Now, we are much more restricted in carrying out campaigns than in the past. But if the security guards arrest us, we will not accept it.”

Despite the security measures, leaflets denouncing the junta’s national referendum have been circulating areas in Rangoon, especially marketplaces, according to the student leader.

Recently, Buddhist monks in Mandalay, upper Burma, have launched a harshly worded poster campaign urging the public to “Vote No” to the government’s referendum on a draft constitution due in May, say sources in Mandalay. 

Some sources have claimed that the Burmese authorities are increasing security ahead of Burma’s Armed Forces Day celebrations which will be held on March 27.