Myanmar activists face legal action over fuel hike protest

Myanmar’s junta was interrogating 13 activists arrested for organising a rally against the regime over its massive hike in fuel prices ahead of likely legal action, state media said Saturday.

Since first taking to the streets last Sunday, a series of peaceful protests over the fuel hikes have been held in Yangon but the military has quickly clamped down on dissent by hauling off demonstrators.

“The 13 persons including Min Ko Naing are being interrogated and action will be taken against them in accordance with the law,” said the state-run New Light of Myanmar daily.

The junta has detained more than 50 protesters over the past week, it said.

Min Ko Naing is considered Myanmar’s most prominent pro-democracy leader after detained opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The paper accused the 13 protesters of “agitating to undermine stability and security of the state” in the first official word on the fate of the detained activists.

Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, tolerates little public opposition.

The 13 activists were arrested Tuesday for leading a peaceful march Sunday through Yangon, which drew 500 protesters in the biggest anti-government rally here in at least nine years.

Earlier, a source close to Min Ko Naing told AFP the prominent democracy activist and 12 others were sent to Myanmar’s notorious Insein prison in northern Yangon this week. The source declined to give further details.

The prison is home to some of the nation’s estimated 1,100 political prisoners, and international rights groups have alleged abuse and torture were rampant there.

The 13 were members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group, which is made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against military rule in 1988.

That uprising, which initially began as a protest over Myanmar’s harsh economic conditions, ended with soldiers firing into a crowd of students, killing hundreds if not thousands.

Min Ko Naing spent 15 years in jail for his role in the uprising and was released in November 2004. Since then, he has again spent another four months in detention due to his civil disobedience against the junta.

On Friday, authorities dragged some defiant demonstrators, mainly women, into trucks as they gathered near Yangon’s city hall. They were arrested before launching any action.

Several police cars stood guard near city hall Saturday, with plain-clothes security officials patrolling the streets.

Two men were also arrested near a busy market Saturday, sources told AFP, adding authorities pushed them in a car before the pair would take any action.

Myanmar’s state media on Saturday also mentioned the fuel rises for the first time since the junta secretly doubled key fuel prices on August 15, saying authorities increased the diesel and petrol prices “unavoidably.”

“The public in general will certainly experience inconveniences in one way or another due to the fuel price hikes,” said a commentary in the New Light of Myanmar daily.

“So, we have to practice frugality…It will not be proper for one person to shout loudly since the matter is concerned with the entire people,” it said.

Inflation is estimated at 37 percent this year in Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest nations, and the hike in fuel prices has left many people unable to afford transport to get to work.