Fasting Pupils Join Protests in Rangoon

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched through Rangoon on Monday, and opposition leaders demanded that an interim government be appointed to supervise multi-party elections.

In other developments, more than 1,000 schoolchildren fasted in support of the protesters, and the military said it will shoot demonstrators spreading a report that two armed forces commanders had threatened to join the protest.

Gen. Saw Maung, Burma’s defense minister and armed forces chief of staff, said in a nationwide broadcast Monday night that the public and military should support the government’s plan to supervise multi-party elections soon.

Why Demonstrations Allowed

Saw Maung said the military has allowed protesters to demonstrate freely “to avoid possible misunderstandings amidst various attempts to discredit the armed forces by way of spreading false rumors, propaganda and exaggerations.”

Many thousands of student-led demonstrators marched through the capital, shouting demands for an interim government and multiparty democracy. Estimates of the total number ranged from 10,000 to more than 100,000.

More soldiers were seen on the streets Monday, but they did not interfere with the protesters, who dispersed peacefully.

In their first joint statement, opposition leaders again demanded the formation of an interim government to lead the transition to democracy.

Opposition leaders Aung Gyi, former Defense Minister Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi listed their demands in a letter to Maung Maung. The government did not immediately respond to the letter.

None of the opposition leaders have specified who should be in the interim government, saying only that it should be made up of people outside the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party and who are “acceptable to all the people.”

“Since the government has lost the confidence of the nation, people will have no confidence in the general elections to be held by the government-appointed election supervision commission,” the letter said.

President Maung Maung has rejected the call for an interim government.

But on Saturday he bowed to weeks of nationwide protests and announced that the ruling party would relinquish its 26-year monopoly on power and hold the first multi-party elections since 1960.

Parliament on Sunday authorized the government to amend the constitution to permit a multi-party system and hold the election in six weeks to three months. It appointed a five-man election commission to arrange and oversee the voting.

Students, ranging in age from about 10 to 17, fasted again Monday at the Rangoon General Hospital compound, a longtime rallying point for anti-government protests. The students, many wearing school uniforms, held banners saying “Give Us Democracy!” and “Give Us Interim Government!”

The fast, which lasted 36 hours, ended Monday night.

218 Foreigners Evacuated

A chartered Thai International jetliner, meanwhile, transported 218 foreigners from Rangoon to Bangkok, Thailand, including 102 Japanese, 59 dependents of U.S. diplomats, 30 U.N. officials and some Koreans, French and Britons fleeing the deteriorating conditions in the Burmese capital.

The foreigners arriving in Bangkok said they are “greatly relieved” to be out of Burma.

“The situation there is very confusing and changes every hour,” said Takushi Masakumi, who worked for the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Burma.

Months of anti-government demonstrations across the former British colony of nearly 40 million people forced the July 26 resignation of Gen. Ne Win, who had ruled Burma since a 1962 coup. Ne Win was succeeded by Sein Lwin, who resigned Aug. 12 and was succeeded by Maung Maung.