Dawei Student Union leaders Ko Min Lwin Oo, Ko Zin Maung Pyo and Ko Thura Naing, who are from Dawei Technology University, have been charged with unlawful assembly for a speech given at a Ye coffee shop in opposition to the education bill.
On February 8th, a group of Dawei Student Union students was marching from Dawei to Rangoon, and the group led by those three students stopped by Soe-pyae coffee restaurant in Yangyiaung Quarter, Ye Town, to speak to the public about protesting the national education bill.
“Those [three] students did not mean to make trouble for anyone; they did not make any disturbances. They should not be charged because they gathered there [at the coffee shop] in a peaceful way,” said U Moe Aung Kyaw, director of the People’s Affairs of the 88 generation Peace and Open Society Group, who was accompanying the Dawei Student Union in its march to Ye Town.
Allegedly, Ye Town administrator U Moe Zaw Naing and police official Myit Thaw of Ye Township’s police force explained to the students that they were only allowed to gather and assemble if they had received permission to do so. The students did not accept such an explanation, continued marching and presenting their speech, and have thus been charged with unlawful assembly.
Local Ye Town civil society organizations contend that the authorities had premeditated motives to charge the student leaders with this act, due to the fact that protests surrounding the national education bill have been going on for more than one month since the students gave the speech in Ye Town, and the authorities have just now charged them, after the students have already returned home from the march.
On February 8th, about fifteen students from Dawei Technology University, along with a number of former 88 generation students, marched from Dawei Town to Ye Town, as they headed to Rangoon in protest of the national education bill. While in Ye Town, the protesters briefly gathered in front of a local coffee restaurant to orate a five minute speech, after which they continued marching through town for another five minutes until they left to pay homage, vow and pray for victory at the Shwesandaw Pagoda.
Upon arriving in Ye Town, the Dawei Student Union was welcomed by Ye residents, members of civil society organizations and 88 generation students, who also saw them off when the students left Ye to head to Rangoon.
The three students facing charges are currently being investigated by police official U San Win, from Ye Town’s Ye Police Station.
