Myanmar cracks down on education protest at Yangon pagoda

March 07, 2015 02:40 am | Updated 02:49 am IST - YANGON, Myanmar

Police cracked down on students and other activists opposing Myanmar’s new education law on Thursday, charging protesters with batons and dragging them into trucks at a well-known pagoda in the heart of the old capital.

Several demonstrators were slightly injured and at least 15 were arrested, witnesses and an activist said.

The protest in front of the Sule Pagoda in Yangon drew around 30 people, including prominent activist Nilar Thein and other student leaders. They called on the government to amend an education law they say restricts academic freedom.

Minutes after telling the group to disperse, baton—wielding police and thuggish men hired to carry out the crackdown started chasing down the protesters.

Since Myanmar started moving from a half—century of brutal military rule toward democracy four years ago, the government has found itself grappling with the consequences of newfound freedoms of expression. Many of the initial reforms that marked President Thein Sein’s early days in office have stalled or begun rolling back, with the government showing particular sensitivity about public rallies and criticism in the press.

On Wednesday, police detained more than a dozen workers protesting for higher wages and better working conditions at factories in two industrial zones just outside Yangon. Hundreds of people have been arrested in the last four years, many of them farmers speaking out against land grabs by the rich and powerful.

In recent days, the government warned it would “take action” if student protesters who were stopped at a monastery in Letpadan tried marching to Yangon, 140 kilometers (95 miles) to the south.

The groups at Letpadan and at Sule Pagoda have similar aims. They want the government to scrap a law passed by parliament in September that puts all decisions about education policy and curriculum in the hands of a group largely made up of government ministers. Students say the law undermines the autonomy of universities, which are still struggling to recover after clampdowns on academic independence and freedom during the military’s rule.

The 88 Generation Open Society, an activist group, confirmed that at least eight people were arrested in Thursday’s crackdown.

“Authorities are using the old technique by needlessly cracking down the peaceful protesters,” said a member of the group, Kyaw Min Yu.

In Washington, two U.S. lawmakers denounced what they described as authorities’ violent tactics against peaceful protesters in Yangon.

“This is completely inconsistent with a transition to democracy and President Thein Sein’s pledges to handle disagreements peacefully,” Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley and Republican Rep. Steve Chabot said in a statement.

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