Chairman of the Lower House's Legislative and Judicial Affairs Committee Thura Aung Ko told Mizzima that the Committee is submitting a bill to parliament that will repeal sections of the Law on Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession.
Targeted areas include Section 18, which requires those who are planning to stage a peaceful demonstration to obtain permission to do so from the government. Proceeding without permission is punishable by imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 kyats.
“This new bill allows for peaceful assemblies to take place without prior approval,” Thura Aung Ko announced. “Demonstrators will simply have to inform local police stations and township administration officers of their gathering. If these departments do not respond, processions can be held as scheduled.”
“It also prohibits authorities from forbidding or cancelling demonstrations or rallies,” he continued. “Police will be responsible for protecting nonviolent activists.”
Additionally, passage of the bill will make it illegal to jail peaceful protestors. Thura Aung Ko said that this provision will support President U Thein Sein’s vow that there will be no political prisoners in Myanmar by the end of 2013.
