Following Vicious Student Crackdowns, EU Must Stop Training Thugs

Burma has once again been in the international headlines for all the wrong reasons. Rather than making headlines for, say, realizing a sustainable peace settlement between the Burma authorities and the country’s various ethnic nationalities, or blazing a trail with genuine political reforms in the lead-up to supposedly historic and seminal general elections, Burma has reverted to type. On 10 March 2015 police launched a violent and cold-blooded crackdown on student activists in Letpadan, Bago Region, brutally assaulting students, monks, ambulance workers and journalists, and arresting scores more. Their “crime” – protesting against the undemocratic National Education Law. The same day, another group of protestors was forcibly dispersed in Rangoon. Their “crime” – protesting against the violence in Letpadan.

The grim details tell a shocking story of callousness, cruelty and chaos: medical workers beaten by police through the open doors of ambulances as they attended to the wounded; journalists attacked and arrested for recording police violence, despite wearing press badges to identify themselves; students hit with batons and stamped upon even after they had been detained; monks arrested merely for supporting the student protestors and giving them sanctuary in the Aungmyay Beikman monastery in Letpadan; and protestors dragged out of houses where they had been sheltering from the violence and arrested by police going around the local area door-to-door […]

AAPP Condemns the Use of Violence and Torture in Burma and Demands the Immediate Unconditional Release of All Political Prisoners

The recent violent crackdowns against the peaceful student demonstrators and their supports resulted in the detention of at least 127 people. AAPP vehemently condemns the disproportionate force used by the police and demands accountability for those responsible for the violence seen in both Letpadan and Rangoon […]

Burmese Government Urged to Cease the Assault and Arrest of Students Protesting in Letpadan and Rangoon

We, the undersigned organizations, strongly condemn the latest instance of brutal and indiscriminate assault by the police and vigilante groups against the students, monks, and residents in Letpadan who have been peacefully exercising their civil and political rights […]

2015 Palm Campaign: “Even Though I’m Free I Am Not” – Extended in Light of the Recent Mass Arrests of Peaceful Protestors

Today – March 13, 2015 – the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the Former Political Prisoners Society (FPPS) announce the extension of the 2015 Palm Campaign in light of the recent violent government crackdowns and mass arrests of at least 127 peaceful protestors […]

ASEAN Youth Forum Strongly Condemns Brutality and Violence Taken Against Students Protest in Myanmar!!!

The endless and painful struggle of Myanmar students for education reform has resulted to violence and brutality of the police in Yangon and Letpadan […]

USCB Demands Burma Cease All Violence on Protestors; Urges U.S. Government to Investigate Regime-backed Actions of Brutality and Suppression Against Protestors

(Washington DC, March 11, 2015) – Today, March 11, 2015, U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB) demands an end to the violence exerted on protesting students in Rangoon and Letpadan, and calls for an international investigation on the Burmese regime’s actions on citizens who assemble and protest peacefully […]

Burma: Police Baton-Charge Student Protesters

(New York, March 11, 2015) – The Burmese police should end their crackdown on student protests and investigate officers responsible for the use of excessive force against protesters, Human Rights Watch said today […]