10,000 Farmers in Arakan Join Hands in Anti-Government Protest

Taungup:    Some 10,000 farmers in Arakan State on Saturday joined hands in a protest against the military government in Wra Ma Village, located 30 miles north of Taungup in southern Arakan.

A woman from Taungup said farmers from several villages surrounding Wra Ma Village marched in the streets shouting anti-government slogans.

A witness said many monks in the area also participated in the demonstration and delivered speeches on the recent crackdown by military authorities on the monks' demonstrations in Rangoon and Mandalay.

According to a local villager source, people in the demonstration were angry at the government's action against the monks in Rangoon and were strongly shouting anti-government slogans.

The authority from Taungup sent a platoon of police to the village to crack down on the demonstration soon after they had received the information it was occurring.

However, there is not yet any information about whether the authorities arrested the farmers who were involved in the protest yesterday.

Meanwhile, 2000 demonstrators, including 100 monks staged a demonstration yesterday in Arakan State's capital Akyab by marching along several streets.

Participants in the demonstration marched silently while monks recited Buddhist chants.

The demonstration started at 2 pm and reportedly ended peacefully at 4 pm without any disturbances by the military authorities.#