Sittwe: In an unique move against the Burmese military junta and its referendum, unidentified anti-referendum campaigners in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State got hold of dogs on Monday and hung posters around the necks of the animals, said an eyewitness.

"I don't know who hung the small posters on the necks of some dogs. I saw a few dogs running on the streets wearing anti-referendum posters," he said.

The posters hung on the dogs necks were marked only with an 'X' and the word "Against" in Arakanese.

On the ballots in the referendum, an X stands for a "No" vote for the proposed constitution. "Everybody easily understood what the posters were trying to say when they saw them on the dogs," the eyewitness said.

Some policemen in Sittwe tried to take the posters off the dogs, but were unable to because the dogs ran away whenever the police came near.

"It was very humorous for the people when they saw policemen following the dogs to take off the posters. When the police chased the dogs, they would run away," the resident said.

In Sittwe, as people have been protesting against the forthcoming referendum in a variety of ways, the authorities have deployed many additional police forces in the city.

It has also been learnt that many policemen are now guarding the streets of Sittwe day and night to prevent anti-referendum activities.