After crackdown on students, Myanmar's will to reform questioned

[WorldNews]

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By Jared Ferrie YANGON (Reuters) - A student march through central Myanmar in protest against a new education law began as an unremarkable procession from the country's seat of learning and culture, Mandalay, to the commercial hub of Yangon. "I lived under military rule all my life and I never experienced such a crackdown," said Maung Moccy, a student leader and former political prisoner who said he saw police officers batter unarmed students with wooden batons. "Honestly, I'm afraid they have decided to backslide on democracy." The United States and the European Union, which have backed Myanmar's move towards democracy after half a century of military rule, have condemned the violence in the town of Letpadan, about 140 km (90) miles north of Yangon. The opposition National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel laureate and Myanmar's icon of political freedom, demanded an inquiry.

 

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