One year on, students demanding an independent union, a democratic education system and the release of political prisoners have returned to the fray. The All Myanmar Student Union (Upper Myanmar) organised a demonstration marching to Mandalay University yesterday to mark the protest launched 12 months ago.
The movement seemed to founder after the violent police attack on student marchers at Letpadan, 140 kilometres (87 miles) north of Yangon, when 127 students, journalists and bystanders were arrested.
“It’s a year since that demonstration march began at Eain Taw Yar Pagoda. We are now commemorating that event, under the leadership of the executive members of all universities and colleges in Upper Myanmar,” said student union chair Ko Nyan Lin Htet.
The demonstrators renewed their call on the government to respond to the 16 demands students had made previously, he said. The student march was initially launched last year against a new education bill perceived as restricting academic freedoms. Seeking to overhaul the bill, campaigners paraded from Mandalay, intending to descend on Yangon picking up more student activists along the way. A revised National Education Law was passed in June after the word “union” was removed from the text, against the wishes of students. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
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