The Burmese military government held pro-constitution draft rallies in nine townships of Rangoon on Monday morning for the first time, while authorities forced residents onto the streets to join the rallies, according to sources.
“The officials ordered each ward, or neighborhood, to send 500 people to this morning’s rallies,” said a Dagon Myo Thit resident. “After the rally at the public park in Dagon Yeik Mon Garden City, they (the officials) told us to walk around the townships. People don’t want to show their faces at pro-junta rallies because it is considered shameful.”
The objective of today’s rallies was to show support for the junta’s constitution draft and the seven-step “Road Map to Democracy” plan, said the source. The protesters shouted slogans in support of the junta’s agenda regarding the “Road Map.” Thousands of people reportedly attended this morning’s rallies in Rangoon.
As the first step in the “Road Map,” the national convention concluded on September 3, a few weeks before monks led mass protests in Burma and the subsequent violent crackdown by the security forces.
The second step of the seven-step road map is rather obscure: “After the successful holding of the National Convention, step-by-step implementation of the process necessary for the emergence of a genuine and disciplined democratic system.”
As the third step—under decree 2/2007—a committee of 45 professional persons was appointed to draft the constitution. The appointment of the committee on October 18 is being hailed by the Burmese junta as another important step on the seven-stage road map.
Usually, pro-junta rallies only occur in Rangoon at football stadiums or in certain public places. However, this time the authorities forced residents to walk in the streets with the protests, said the sources.
Among the nine townships at which rallies were held, four were in Dagon Myo Thit Township, a notoriously poor neighborhood built in 1989 in the suburbs of the city after the junta’s brutal crackdown on the 1988 uprising. Hundreds of thousands of people in central Rangoon were forced to relocate to Dagon Myo Thit by the junta as a punishment for supporting the pro-democracy demonstrations and as a tactic to prevent another popular uprising.
“The officials ordered each ward, or neighborhood, to send 500 people to this morning’s rallies,” said a Dagon Myo Thit resident. “After the rally at the public park in Dagon Yeik Mon Garden City, they (the officials) told us to walk around the townships. People don’t want to show their faces at pro-junta rallies because it is considered shameful.”
The objective of today’s rallies was to show support for the junta’s constitution draft and the seven-step “Road Map to Democracy” plan, said the source. The protesters shouted slogans in support of the junta’s agenda regarding the “Road Map.” Thousands of people reportedly attended this morning’s rallies in Rangoon.
As the first step in the “Road Map,” the national convention concluded on September 3, a few weeks before monks led mass protests in Burma and the subsequent violent crackdown by the security forces.
The second step of the seven-step road map is rather obscure: “After the successful holding of the National Convention, step-by-step implementation of the process necessary for the emergence of a genuine and disciplined democratic system.”
As the third step—under decree 2/2007—a committee of 45 professional persons was appointed to draft the constitution. The appointment of the committee on October 18 is being hailed by the Burmese junta as another important step on the seven-stage road map.
Usually, pro-junta rallies only occur in Rangoon at football stadiums or in certain public places. However, this time the authorities forced residents to walk in the streets with the protests, said the sources.
Among the nine townships at which rallies were held, four were in Dagon Myo Thit Township, a notoriously poor neighborhood built in 1989 in the suburbs of the city after the junta’s brutal crackdown on the 1988 uprising. Hundreds of thousands of people in central Rangoon were forced to relocate to Dagon Myo Thit by the junta as a punishment for supporting the pro-democracy demonstrations and as a tactic to prevent another popular uprising.
