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Burma activists protest over fuel

Burma activists protest over fuel

BBC NEWS
Aug 23, 2007

The protest in Rangoon on 22 August

Pro-democracy activists in Burma's main city, Rangoon, have taken part in a third demonstration against the recent sharp rise in the price of fuel.

About 40 protesters marched towards the headquarters of the opposition National League for Democracy.

But supporters of Burma's military leaders blocked their path and tried to force them into trucks, reports say.

On Wednesday at least 200 people took part in a rare public protest against the fuel price hike.

People joined the demonstration despite the arrests on Tuesday of at least 13 prominent activists - a move which was intended, experts say, as a deterrent against further protests.

The activists included veteran leaders of the 88 Generation Students, a group at the forefront of the 1988 popular uprising that was violently put down by the military.

They had led a 500-strong rally on Sunday, the largest such event in Burma in a decade.

Apparent concession

The protests have been triggered by the government's decision last week to double the price of fuel.

The unannounced move left many people unable to afford bus fares to get to work.

Experts say it has also forced up the price of staples such as rice and oil, triggering anger and concern in the poverty-stricken nation.

But in an apparent concession, the government has now halved bus fares for the shortest journeys, Reuters news agency reported.

Correspondents say the rare displays of public defiance will have worried Burma's ruling junta. The prospect of economic protests linking up with the 1988 veterans would be especially alarming to the military government, according to the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.

It was the same combination of factors that led to the military's near overthrow 19 years ago.

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