Yangon - Myanmar's junta cracked down hard Wednesday on efforts to spark mass protests against last week's fuel price hikes by arresting a score of dissidents and sending pro-government thugs to attack demonstrators. Late Tuesday night authorities rounded up 13 members of the 88 Generation Students groups including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Pyone Cho, Min Zeya, Mya Aye, Kyaw Min Yu, Zeya, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe, Arnt Bwe Kyaw, Panneik Tun, Zaw Zaw Min, Thet Zaw and Nyan Lin Tun on charges of attempted to foment civil unrest.
"All in all, their agitation to cause civil unrest was aimed at undermining peace and security of the state," said the government-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, explaining the crackdown.
Despite the arrests, about 150 people marched Wednesday in protest against the fuel hikes from Kamaryunt to Hlaing township in Yangon.
Six of the protest leaders, including former National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition member Naw Ohn Hla, once a close aide to democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, were arrested and about 20 people were injured by pro-governmment thugs, eyewitnesses said.
Than Htut Maung was also arrested in downtown Yangon near the Sule Pagoda Wednesday afternoon for carrying an anti-inflation poster. A mass demonstration planned on Sule Pagoda Road failed to materialize Wednesday afternoon after security personnel moved into the area in force.
A week ago the junta doubled benzine, diesel and compressed natural gas prices at state-run petrol stations, adding to the already rampant inflation.
The NLD and 88 Generation group on Monday warned the government that unless the price hike was reversed, protests were "imminent."
The 88 Generation Students are one of the few dissident groups remaining in Myanmar, which has been under the equivalent of martial law since a brutal army crackdown on mass anti-military demonstrations in September 1988.
The group comprises former student leaders who participated in the 1988 demonstrations and are now committed to non-violent means of undermining military rule and ushering in democracy.
Their arrests drew immediate condemnation from human rights organizations and Myanmar democracy activists living abroad.
"Min Ko Naing and the other leaders arrested have all been severely tortured during previous incarcerations and we are gravely concerned for their immediate well-being," said Aung Din, policy director at the US Campaign for Burma.
"We call on China and the United Nations to take immediate action to ensure their safety and release."
The arrests precede a planned visit by United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari in the coming weeks and months after China vetoed a peaceful UN Security Council resolution that would have strengthened the hand of the UN in dealing with Myanmar.
On Tuesday police and so-called pro-government "patriots" blocked hundreds of dissidents, led by 88 Generation Students, who were attempting to march to the headquarters of the National League of Democracy (NLD) in Yangon.
On Monday evening Buddhist monks in the precincts of Kabaraye Pagoda and Thanlyin also staged protests against the deteriorating economic conditions. The monkhood has a long history of political activism in Myanmar.
Monks joined students in the 1988 anti-military demonstrations that rocked the nation that year, ending in a bloodbath.
Myanmar has been suffering double-digit inflation since last year. The recent fuel price hikes, which also applied to compressed natural gas (CNG) used by the public buses, have more than doubled transportation costs.
The nationwide anti-military demonstrations of 1988 were sparked by growing discontent with the country's deteriorating economy, combined with mounting frustration with the country's military dictatorship.
In 1987 Myanmar, once Asia's leading rice exporter, was downgraded to a Least Developed Developing Country (LDDC) status at the United Nations as a means of lessening its international debt burden.
The impoverished status led to widespread disillusionment with the so-called "Burmese Way to Socialism" advocated by the military since it seized power with a coup in 1962.
