Gulf Times Friday, April 18, 2008
YANGON: Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar arrested around two dozen men at the weekend for wearing T-shirts urging people to vote against the constitution in a referendum next month, a resident said yesterday.
The men, whose shirts had simply borne the slogan “NO”, were picked up after raucous Myanmar New Year celebrations in the northwest town of Sittwe on Sunday, but were released the next day, the local source said.
“The T-shirts were seized and the men were freed after interrogation,” the source said. “They said some unidentified people distributed the T-shirts to the revellers, including them, free of charge.”
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has urged the former Burma’s voters to reject the junta-drafted constitution in the May 10 plebiscite.
Since announcing its stance, the opposition group has complained about its campaigners being assaulted and having their materials confiscated in the run-up to the vote.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said one party official in a suburb of Yangon, the former capital, was arrested on Monday night and sentenced to 15 days in prison for failing to register with authorities while staying away from home, as required by law.
Myanmar has been under military rule since a 1962 coup. The current junta has urged the country’s 53mn people to back the charter as part of a seven-step “roadmap to democracy” meant to culminate in multi-party elections in 2010.
The NLD, other opposition groups and Western governments say the constitution is unacceptable as it cements the army’s grip on power, giving it 25% of seats in parliament and the right to suspend the charter at will. –
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