Limerick takes action in support of Burmese people

limerick | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Tuesday October 09, 2007 00:30 by John Lannon

Day of Action in City Centre, Saturday 8 October.

Shoppers, residents and day visitors to Limerick city centre responded enthusiastically to a call for support for the peaceful protests of the Burmese people on Saturday 8th October. An information stand erected at the intersection of O'Connell St. and Thomas St. had a steady stream of people anxious to sign letters of protest, and to find out more about the situation in the state of Myanmar (Burma).

On Saturday October 8th, members of Amnesty International (Limerick Group) and others called on the people of Limerick to support the peaceful demands of the Burmese people for democracy and human rights. Hundreds of people signed letters calling on the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in Myanmar (Burma) to ensure that the people arrested there in the last few weeks are not subjected to torture or any other ill-treatment. The letters also urged the authorities to ensure that Burmese citizens are allowed to peacefully exercise the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly without fear of harassment, intimidation or arbitrary detention, in line with international human rights standards.

Leaflets with information on the historical context in Burma and a call for further action were handed out to passers by. In these calls for action, people were asked to write to the Chinese embassy to demand that their government stop supplying arms to the military junta in Burma. China has been supplying the army in Burma with a wide range of military equipment including tanks, armoured personnel carriers, jet aircraft, guns, and so on since the democratic uprising in 1998. These have been used in the last month to crush the peaceful demonstrations of monks and other Burmese people ... there are reports of activists being burned alive at crematoriums, government troops firing automatic weapons directly into crowds, witnesses being arrested and held at places no-one has access to, up to 15 monasteries empty as the monks have been arrested and are possibly being tortured. Analysts say that it is impossible to know how many people have already been tortured and killed by the brutal regime in Burma/Myanmar since the protests began.

As with many other cities around the world, Limerick have been keen to support the democratic will of Aung San Su Kyi and millions of Burmese people who have been repressed and denied their basic rights for many years.