Renaud Egreteau argues that potential dissidents within the National League for Democracy are unlikely to gain influence in the near term.

Human rights and civil society groups have long criticised the Peaceful Assembly Law, or Article 19 as it is commonly known, saying it has been used by the government and military to suppress opposition.

Anger is growing after dozens of university enrollees were expelled in recent days for demanding an increase to Burma’s national education budget, reviving a proud but often fraught tradition of student protest that has in the past both unseated dictators and killed thousands of young dissidents.

Diana Hunyh examines the historical and contemporary controversy of the Rangoon University Student Union.

Ko Ni, the prominent Burmese Muslim lawyer assassinated in Rangoon, was being closely watched by intelligence agents, according to friends and colleagues, and had received past threats over his sensitive work as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party.

A commission set up by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to investigate attacks on border posts and the army’s brutal response on Wednesday said security forces had abided by the law in a Muslim-majority area of northern Arakan State.