(AA) – At least three Myanmar students were arrested Friday after taking part in a peaceful rally calling for the release of dozens of fellow activists jailed during a brutal police crackdown earlier this month.
Hundreds marched through Myanmar’s main city of Yangon chanting “We don’t want violence!” before organizers agreed with police to disperse, marking the agreement with a handshake.
Although the demonstration appeared to pass without incident, local media later reported three activists were detained, apparently by plainclothes men employed by authorities to assist uniformed police.
The rally was called in support of seventy students who are on trial for “rioting” and “unlawful assembly” after baton-wielding police broke up a sit-in in the town of Letpadan, around 140 kilometers north of Yangon, on March 10.
A column of around 200 students had been marching from the central city of Mandalay to Yangon before police descended on the town and formed a blockade, sparking a standoff that eventually turned violent.
Protestors Friday carried a large banner with a photo, taken during the Letpadan crackdown, of police swinging batons at a man.
At least four trucks full of riot police were on standby in Yangon as officers negotiated with students. An earlier Yangon rally, on March 5, had turned bloody as police pummeled activists and dragged them into trucks. Eight people were detained overnight.
Students have been campaigning for months for amendments to a new education law that they say stifles academic freedom and political activity on campus.
The government is especially sensitive about student activists because they have been at the forefront of several major political movements in Myanmar’s recent history.
A student-led 1988 uprising was crushed by the former military junta when soldiers gunned down unarmed protestors, killing thousands.
