Myanmar police beat, arrest 15 student protesters
Myanmar’s police have arrested over a dozen people after they attacked a group of students and activists protesting against a new education law amid a surge in the number of similar student rallies demanding education reforms in the country.
On Thursday, baton-wielding security forces attacked the student protesters in the major city of Yangon and tried to disperse the angry crowd.
Campaigners attending the protest rally said about 15 activists had been beaten and taken away by uniformed officers and plainclothesmen during the demonstration.
“We contacted one activist leader while he was being taken away in a vehicle. He told us that the protesters were beaten and arrested,” said Zaw Min with the 88 Generation democracy campaign group.
The Thursday demonstration was held in Yangon to express solidarity with a similar student protest in the central town of Letpadan, where some 200 protesters have been besieged by riot police for three days.
The development comes as Myanmar officials had vowed to prevent the activists from pressing ahead with their previously planned protest march in Yangon, which has been the site of months-long student rallies.
The protesters want the government to amend a recent education law that they believe restricts academic freedom.
Tensions have been running high in the Asian country since Tuesday when students ignored a deadline set by security officials to disperse and abandon a planned protest march to Yangon.
MFB/MKA
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