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NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar’s police chief Thursday
confirmed that 14 supporters of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
had been detained for nearly one month after protesting against the
extension of her house arrest.
Brigadier General Khin Yee, the
police chief, also told Agence France-Presse that six journalists
had been deported for entering the country on tourist visas to
report on deadly Cyclone Nargis. He did not identify the
journalists.
The activists were detained on
May 27 after leading a small protest against the military’s
decision to confine the Nobel Peace Prize winner for another year.
She has already spent more than
12 years inside her Yangon home, where she is kept in total
isolation.
The group tried to march from the
headquarters of her political party, the National League for
Democracy, but were stopped just minutes after beginning their
protest.
“We told them they can hold a
ceremony without harming the state’s peace and tranquility,”
Khin Yee told Agence France-Presse on the sidelines of a ceremony in
the capital Naypyidaw, marking the UN’s international day against
drugs.
“But their act harmed the peace
and tranquility, even though we prohibited it,” he said.
“That’s why we are questioning them about why they did it. They
were not arrested. They are just being questioned.”
His remarks were the first
official confirmation of the arrests.
Khin Yee also said the military
regime had deported six journalists for entering the country on
tourist visas to report on the cyclone that left more than 138,000
dead or missing when it struck southwestern Myanmar nearly eight
weeks ago.
“Some people enter the country
with tourist visas and don’t act like tourists,” the police
chief said.
“Some people overstep the
boundaries by working as journalists. Those who overstep the
boundaries were deported. Actually, we should take legal action
against them, but we didn’t do anything to them,” he said.
“About six people were deported
because they overstepped the boundaries,” he added.
Myanmar maintains tight control
over all media in the country and has only granted journalist visas
to a handful of reporters covering events attended by international
officials, such as last month’s trip by UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki Moon.
--AFP
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