Myanmar’s Suu Kyi supporters ‘run for their lives’
YANGON: Hundreds of supporters of Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi were forced to “run for their lives” when members of a pro-junta group tried to run them over with their cars, her party said here Monday.
A dozen vehicles forced the supporters to flee as they waited along the sides of roads to greet Aung San Suu Kyi in Sagaing, in northern Myanmar’s Mandalay division, on Sunday. The Nobel Peace Prize-winner, who is currently on her longest political trip outside Yangon since being released from house arrest in May last year, has been routinely harassed by the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), an official social organisation claiming some 19 million members.
“The USDA people organised around 12 cars and pickup trucks loaded with people. They tried to drive along both sides of her motorcade so people on the roadside had to run for their lives,” National League for Democracy (NLD) party spokesman U Lwin told AFP. “That was what they were shouting: ‘Run for your lives, stay away from Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade or you will have to pick up your own corpse’... It was a very serious incident,” he said.
The protestors, who he believed came from nearby villages and were paid by the USDA, wielded stakes, knives and catapults. “In one place they hit the bonnet of Aung San Suu Kyi’s car, and then one youth beside her got hit in the head by (something shot from) a catapult,” U Lwin said, adding that the USDA harassment was becoming more serious.
“I must say it is getting worse. Now they are using stakes, catapults and brickbats when they come to the scene.”Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have already complained of increasing harassment from the military government, particularly of the thousands of supporters who flock to see her. Her current trip is being viewed as a test of whether the regime will attempt any serious disruption. U Lwin said that the trip, during which she has reopened 10 NLD offices in a bid to boost her party’s operations, has been successful, with thousands turning out, as usual, to catch a glimpse of her. But the spokesman said he planned to raise the issue of harassment with junta officials. “I have to make some discussions again about the way they are handling the USDA people. It’s not enough,” he said. “These things are happening right under the eyes of the local authorities, the traffic police and village elders.” —AFP