Myanmar junta blames exiles for unrest

MYANMAR: Myanmar's ruling generals accused exile dissident groups on Friday of fomenting two weeks of rare protests and signalled there would be no let up in efforts to crush them despite harsh U.S. and European Union criticism.

"The government has information that external anti-government groups are giving directives and providing various sorts of assistance to internal anti-government groups to stir up mass demonstrations and instability," state-run newspapers said.

"The people will not accept any acts to destabilise the nation and harm their interests and are willing to prevent such destructive acts," they said.

There was no direct reference to tough criticism from U.S. President George W. Bush and the European Commission of one of the harshest crackdowns on dissent in the former Burma since the army ruthlessly crushed an uprising in 1988.

State-owned MRTV said the seizure of 13 government officials and torching of their cars by young monks on Thursday was the result of external agitation.

Pakkoku residents blamed the junta, whose troops fired warning shots over the heads of monks during a peaceful protest march the previous day.

Soldiers and pro-junta gangs had manhandled monks and bystanders when they broke up the march, some people said.

"The monks were just peacefully marching, reciting holy scriptures. But it was handled very cruelly and rudely. Some monks were beaten and tied up to the lampposts," one said.

Another said local members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, the pro-junta civilian group used to break up many of the protests, had gone into hiding because some young monks had been looking for them.

However, the repeated outbreaks of protests, albeit generally small and not swelled by onlookers cowed by all-pervasive security, have been notable for their persistence despite the prospect of long jail terms.

They have continued despite the detention of most of the leaders of the 1988 protests for their roles in the latest demonstrations. Up to 3,000 people are believed to have been killed in the military's crackdown of the 1988 protests.

Those arrested include Min Ko Naing, the most influential dissident after detained Nobel laureate and National League for Democracy chief Aung San Suu Kyi.

Yangon, Friday, Reuters