Mandalay-based university students issued an emergency statement on September 7, saying they would be at the forefront of the fight against the military dictatorship as the anti-regime movement enters a potentially more dangerous new phase.
Ko Htet Myat Aung, interim chairman of the Yadanabon University Students’ Union, said the students’ union would join the front lines of armed resistance to the junta, calling September 7 “People’s Revolution Day.”
The National Unity Government on Tuesday declared a “people’s defensive war” against the military regime, with the NUG’s acting president, Duwa Lashi La, saying: “As this is a public revolution, all the citizens within entire Myanmar, revolt against the rule of the military terrorists led by Min Aung Hlaing in every corner of the country.”
“We, the university students, have announced that we will be at the forefront of the fight against the military dictatorship since the military took power,” Ko Htet Myat Aung said. “We have worked in various sectors in the past. We, the student unions, have issued an urgent statement to the people that we will play a leading role in the fight against the military dictatorship.”
The Mandalay-based university students’ policy is not to rely on either the United Nations or ASEAN countries, but rather to depend on public strength to fight for the independence of their country, their statement said.
“We have no reason to accept a military dictator because no one wanted them to come to power,” Ko Htet Myat Aung said. “The military dictatorship will have to be eradicated completely in our generation, and the military will be in power for the next generation if we do not succeed.”
The statement said the Myanmar that university students aspired to was the abolition of the “fascist” military and the dictatorship, and the establishment of a democracy based on democracy and federalism.
The NUG declared a state of emergency on September 7, asking people to “avoid unnecessary travel” and instructing civil servants to leave their jobs under the military government.
It has been more than seven months since the military seized power in a coup on February 1, with a nationwide anti-regime movement continuing to protest the dictatorship in various ways, including armed resistance.
A total of 1,049 people were killed and 7,904 were arrested in opposition to the military dictatorship in the 218 days from February 1 to September 6, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
