Myanmar deploys riot police for Independence Day

Swissinfo.org, January 4, 2008

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta deployed riot police and fire trucks at potential flashpoints in Yangon on Friday to prevent pro-democracy protests on the 60th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Riot police took up positions outside the former capital's City Hall and the Shwedagon and Sule pagodas -- all key locations in mass anti-junta protests that erupted in September.

One government official, who did not want to be named, said local authorities had also been ordered to prepare gangs of "Swan-Arr-Shin", or "Masters of Force", thugs in case pro-democracy activists tried to demonstrate.

The junta, the latest face of 45 years of army rule in the former Burma, limited its celebrations to a military ceremony in the remote new capital, Naypyidaw, and a broadcast message from junta supremo Than Shwe.

Keep reading . . .