| Poets lead protest in military head’s home town
Sep 03, 2007 (DVB)—A group of writers and poets from Kyaukse, the home town of junta leader senior general Than Shwe, staged a protest against high fuel prices today, according to eyewitnesses.
Well-known writer Nyunt Lwin told DVB that he, along with poets Tin Latt Ko and Zin Kyaw Pai, led a group of fourteen writers in a protest march from the Kyaukse Hospital to areas on the other side of town.
“Writers face the same economic hardships as other citizens and it is about time we came out and expressed our feelings. We don’t care if the authorities decide to ban us from writing or arrest us,” Nyunt Lwin said.
“Burmese writers have a history of standing up for people in past battles for freedom.”
Nyunt Lwin said the group was forced to stop marching and change direction at one point today, after learning that a group of more than 50 police officers in prison vans were waiting for them further up the road.
The demonstration ended at the Arahan pagoda, where the writers said they prayed for lower fuel and commodity prices and for the freedom of detained Kyaukse National League for Democracy member Ko Kyaw Thu Moe Myint who was arrested yesterday.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
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