Today is the 22nd anniversary of the 8-8-88 protests, when hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors took to the streets to call for human rights and democracy. It was to end in bloodshed â€“ a brutal crackdown by the ruling military junta would leave an estimated 3,000 people dead in the weeks that followed. The anniversary is still marked around the world.
The leader of the protests back then was Min Ko Naing. He was also involved in organising the protests in 2007. He is now in jail and is one of Amnestyâ€™s priority cases. Sadly little seems to have changed over the years and the juntaâ€™s reaction to the protests back in 2007 only reinforced the point. Burma is a country where torture, slave labour and unfair trials are all common place. And there are estimated 2,200 political prisoners there.
Waihhin is a Burmese student living in London, and her father Ko Mya Aye was also involved in both protests. He is currently serving a 65-year jail sentence.
A good timeline of the events in Burma is available on Dipity.