For the second time, civilian activists distributed 1,000 posters and stickers opposing the November 7 election and the Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam construction project yesterday in Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, northern Burma, days before Sunday’s poll, according to sources from the activist group.

The colourful cartoon posters were pasted on roadside walls and power poles in at least six crowded places in the capital, said an activist leader.

According to eyewitnesses, they saw posters and colourful stickers in Khyemar Tiri quarter, Shatapru quarter, Myoma quarter, Tatkone quarter, near Myitkyina main markets and the Town Clock Tower.

The activist leader, going by the pseudonym Naw Ja, said, “The election will grant the regime a chance to complete construction of the dam. The electricity produced will be sold to China. That’s why we are opposing it.”

The cartoon on the poster illustrated the idea that a vote for the junta-controlled Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was participating in the destruction of the people of Kachin State, as well as the environment.

The huge Myitsone hydropower project, located about 27 miles north of Myitkyina, is a joint project of the Burmese military government and the Chinese.

The planning started in 2006, but the construction officially started on December 21, 2009, against the wishes of all Kachin people and environmental activists.

Several Kachin students from Myitkyina University have been temporarily detained and interrogated since last night by Burmese security agents, said student sources.