The Burmese military junta has come down heavily on residents of Burma's northern town Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State in the wake of students pasting anti-regime posters to denounce the 20th anniversary of the coup in the country on September 18. The regime has imposed night curfew starting from 10 p.m., said local sources.
Arbitrary arrests of people on the streets even before 10 p.m. when the curfew comes into force, have spread panic among the people. Those arrested are being fined heavily by policemen who are keeping the town under surveillance.
An angry new Northern Command (Kachin State) Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win ordered imposition of the curfew on September 18 night, the day students pasted anti-regime posters to condemn the 20th anniversary of the coup, said residents in Myitkyina.
Earlier this month, the 24-hour night market located between No. 1 and No. 2 Myitkyina markets in the downtown was ordered to down shutters by 11:30 p.m. local time. But now it has been ordered to close from 9 p.m., stall owners said.
Residents of Myitkyina said the police are monitoring the town 24 hours. Some residents and trishaw drivers were arrested before 10 p.m. and fined Kyat 10,000 (est. US $ 8) by policemen on duty in the different quarters. The police threatened to put those arrested in prison if they did not pay the fine.
No. 1 and No. 2 police stations in town and the junta's administrators from the district to the village level have been strongly reprimanded by Commander Soe Win because they did not stop the students from putting up posters in the town, said sources close to the police.
Sources close to the junta's military intelligence, Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa-Ya-Pha) have offered a reward 100,000 Kyat (est. US $ 84) to anyone who gives precise information about student activists who pasted anti-regime posters in the town. The authorities are looking for the names of the student activists.
The imposition of night curfew was announced publicly on the notice board in every quarter and village in the town, said local eyewitnesses.
