Singapore university students petition Myanmar junta, ASEAN

  Associated Press
October 4, 2007
SINGAPORE


HUNDREDS of Singapore university students Thursday, Oct 4, urged the Myanmar junta to hold talks with key opposition political players following the deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

In a rare protest, students across four university campuses marked Myanmar Peace Awareness Day with red armbands and ribbons, a forum on Myanmar and petitions to the Myanmar junta and ASEAN.

The petitions urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to further pressure the junta while keeping the international spotlight on the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

Dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were slain and 6,000 detained in the junta's crackdown, while the regime has only admitted to 10 deaths. Foreign governments, including ASEAN member states, have urged the junta to free detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as other detainees, including Buddhist monks who led the protests.

"We are a group of concerned Myanmar and Singaporean students, from all three universities in Singapore, dismayed by the violent crackdown in Myanmar," Youth for Peace in Myanmar, the event's student organizers, said in a statement.

Public protests are rare in Singapore, where outdoor demonstrations are banned and any public gathering of more than four people requires a permit.

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