Fwd: Burma Group Urges Democracy

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In a message dated 97-01-12 13:13:35 EST, you write:

<< Subj:	Burma Group Urges Democracy
 Date:	97-01-12 13:13:35 EST
 From:	AOLNewsProfiles@xxxxxxx
 
 .c The Associated Press
       RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi's
 pro-democracy party told supporters at a small roadside gathering
 Sunday to keep the spirit of democracy alive.
       Unlike the previous day, there were no riot police present when
 Aung Shwe and Tin Oo of the National League for Democracy met
 briefly with about 150 supporters along Saya San Road in northern
 Rangoon.
       On Saturday, some 50 activists waiting to hear speeches by their
 leaders at the same spot dispersed after seeing they were
 outnumbered and surrounded by security forces.
       Many members of the National League for Democracy have been
 jailed and harassed by Burma's military regime.
       Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has been largely confined to
 her home in recent weeks and unable to make the weekend speeches to
 supporters she launched after being released from six years of
 house arrest in July 1995.
       Instead, she has sent her senior leaders to meet with supporters
 at nearby intersections. Aung Shwe serves as the party chairman,
 while Tin Oo is the vice chairman.
       Tin Oo, a former defense minister, told the gathering Sunday he
 had not come to deliver a speech, but to convey thanks from Suu
 Kyi, whom he had met earlier. He said party supporters should keep
 the spirit of democracy alive and asked them to disperse
 peacefully.
       Suu Kyi last spoke at a Rangoon intersection on Nov. 23. Her car
 was attacked as she was traveling there Nov. 9 by a mob whose
 members said they were paid by the government.
       AP-NY-01-12-97 1311EST
       Copyright 1997 The Associated Press.  The information 
 contained in the AP news report may not be published, 
 broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without 
 prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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