Myanmar pro-democracy group vows to keep up resistance

BANGKOK: A Myanmar-based pro-democracy group involved in rare protests against the country’s military rulers on Monday vowed to continue resisting the junta despite a crackdown on its members.

Seventeen members of the 88 Generation Students group, made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against military rule in 1988, have been arrested since an August 19 rally in Yangon over a massive hike in fuel prices. Human rights groups have said at least 100 more people have been detained in a violent crackdown on dissent over the past three weeks.

“We believe that no Myanmar people ... will accept these acts of political violence by the military government,” the 88 Generation group said in a statement emailed to media in Thailand over the weekend. “We, the 88 Generation Students, together with people including monks, students, workers and farmers, will continue our efforts to remove the military dictatorship by firmly resisting any kind of arrest and torture.”

The group said their aim was to peacefully take a stand against the junta and economic hardships in impoverished Myanmar, where the economy has been run into the ground by more than 45 years of military rule. Amnesty International estimates that about 150 people have been arrested across Myanmar after the biggest anti-junta march in at least nine years. afp