New York, Oct.2 (ANI): The Government in Burma should drop charges against activists following peaceful demonstrations on International Peace Day in Rangoon on September 21, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today.
Thirteen activists face possible charges for violating the country's 2011 public assembly law for leading a march of some 1,000 demonstrators calling for peace in Kachin State and elsewhere in Burma. The government has already charged two ethnic Kachin participants in the march for the alleged offense in multiple courts.
"The Burmese government will quickly lose its new reformist label if it acts like past military governments by arresting and prosecuting peaceful protesters," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The charges against the peace march organizers should be dropped immediately."
Human Rights Watch said that the Burmese government has long used laws banning marches, demonstrations, and gatherings of more than five people to arrest, detain, and prosecute peaceful protesters. The charges represent a test for the new Law Relating to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession, which President Thein Sein signed on December 2, 2011, amid fanfare and praise from several Western governments.
On September 17, 13 representatives from a network of more than 20 civil society organizations known as the Peace Network applied for assembly permits in each of the townships in Rangoon through which a procession from Sule pagoda to Inya Lake was planned. Organizers submitted their slogans and other protest materials to the authorities as required by the 2011 law, including signs reading "Stop Civil War." The authorities rejected the applications on September 18 and 19, stating the event would disrupt traffic, pose a threat to the public, and risk violence.
The event organizers told Human Rights Watch they informed the police they intended to proceed with the event despite the rejection, citing their right to freedom of expression and assembly. On the evening of September 19 and morning of September 20 the authorities attempted unsuccessfully to apprehend four of the event organizers at their homes.
At the event on September 20, protesters peacefully marched through the streets of Rangoon, sang peace songs, observed moments of silence, and erected a small peace monument at Inya Lake. When the march concluded a group of Special Branch police in civilian clothes attempted to apprehend several organizers in a taxi. One of the organizers told Human Rights Watch: "One of us shouted in the street, 'They are trying to arrest us! We came from the peaceful march!' and they stopped." (ANI)
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