9 Followers of Myanmar Activist Held

Striking a fresh blow against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military regime detained her deputy and eight other followers Friday after thwarting their latest attempt to travel outside the capital, Yangon.

Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, the deputy leader of her National League for Democracy, were evicted from Yangon’s railway station early Friday when they became “abusive,” a government statement said. Suu Kyi was escorted home, it added.

But Tin Oo, 77, and eight other party workers who were planning to accompany Suu Kyi to the north for party work were taken to a “government guest house as a temporary measure to prevent similar incidents,” the military said.

The group wanted to take the train to Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, 350 miles north of Yangon, but the government claimed that tickets were sold out.

Suu Kyi had tried in late August to travel by car out of Yangon for political work, only to be stopped on the road. She and other party members were later confined to their homes for two weeks.