MYINGYAN, Mandalay Division — Police have taken up positions to block students protesting the National Education Law from resuming their march between Mandalay and Rangoon from Myingyan this morning.
About 100 police officers were deployed on Tuesday morning at the entrance of Taung Tha Township, Mandalay Division, setting the stage for a confrontation with at least 500 marchers who at 9am began the 24-kilometer (15-mile) journey from Myingyan. Some of the officers are in riot gear and two fire engines have been deployed behind barricades.
“We are ordered to come here,” a police officer behind the barricade told The Irrawaddy, refusing to elaborate further on the situation.
Typically, only trucks and highway buses are allowed to pass through the entrance into Taung Tha after thorough inspections by police, while private cars and motorcycles are prohibited from travelling through the township.
Since the march began a week ago, students have not encountered any serious obstacles to their 638-kilometer (400-mile) march to Rangoon, apart from verbal warnings that the demonstration was illegal and participants may be subject to prosecutions under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law.
On Tuesday, state media reported that some students would be charged for violating the State Flag Law, after some of the marchers hoisted the flying peacock flag used by student groups at Myingyan College on Monday afternoon.
Concerns have been circulated amongst the protesters about the potential consequences of routing the march through Taung Tha.
131 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Mandalay, Taung Tha is infamous as the stronghold of Aung Thaung, a senior leader from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), who was added to the United States Treasury’s economic sanctions list last year for “undermining political and economic reforms.” Many of the villages in the area are strong supporters of the USDP.
Aung Thaung has been accused of involvement with Swan Arshin, an organized group of hired thugs widely believed to have been deployed during times of unrest, including the 2003 Depayin massacre, during which National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy was assaulted and dozens of her supporters were killed, and the aftermath of the 2007 Saffron Revolution, which saw a crackdown on thousands of monks. Most recently, Swan Arshin has been accused of involvement in anti-Muslim riots that have rattled the country since mid-2012.
The students are expected to reach the outskirts of Taung Tha early on Tuesday afternoon.
