The Burmese military authorities beefed up security with armed policemen in Rangoon on the 20th anniversary of the 8888 uprising for democracy today, even as activists called for political change.

The Burmese regime stationed armed policemen in over 300 vehicles around Rangoon since August 6 and have been checking residents on the road at night.

A Yinkin resident said "The authorities tightened security in North Okkalarpa and Yinkin Township near the house of Noble Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."

However, more than 30 Burmese activists protested in front of the Burmese embassy and Chinese embassy in Bangkok as they marked the 20th anniversary of 8888 today morning.

"We need to reveal what we have in our mind," Ma Thet Thet Oo, a former teacher who joined the protest said.

"What we wanted was democracy. We don't want the military illegally controlling the country," Oo had joined the bloody uprising in 1988 while she was a school teacher said.

Oo said, "I am one of those who joined the uprising 20 years ago and did not know what democracy is. We only wanted to oust the government which brutally treated its people and its employees. We were demanding basic rights".

But Oo realized the basic principals of democracy after she heard a speech of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is under detention.

During the protest today, Oo and her colleagues called on the Burmese junta to release all political prisoners including pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, while nine Mon organizations urged the people to pressure the ruling junta for change.

The Mon community called on the international community to bring up Burma in the UN Security Council and help impose more sanctions against the juntas and its business cronies

The Mon community also called on the junta to initiate tripartite dialogue and release all political prisoners, included Nai Yekha and Nai Cheem Gakao who have been sentenced to life.