Student protests on Tuesday turned sour after police violently broke up a peaceful protest in Letpadan, Burma. Police arrested an estimated 120 protesters, journalists, and Buddhist monks. This crackdown is the latest evidence that the Obama Administration’s headlong embrace of the regime has been misguided from the start.
Demonstrators were protesting an education bill passed in September 2014 that they contend curtails academic freedom. Protesters expressed concern over government control of universities, and previously called for increased funding for higher education.
The nearly 200 protesters were previously assured that they could protest from Letpadan to Rangoon, but police blockaded roads leading to Rangoon. Together, police and plainclothes thugs attacked and arrested protestors attempting to overcome the barricade and beat them with batons. Video footage shows the brutality and violence erupting in the public square and the extent to which the basic freedoms of protesters were violated by the police.
The State Department condemned the use of force and emphasized the importance of guaranteeing freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Burma. The European Union, which provides crowd control training to Burmese police, is now calling for a formal investigation.
The crackdown comes on the heels of a previous clash between protesters and police on March 5. At least eight students were arrested after staging a protest in support of the Letpadan student group. While protesters were released the next day, they were informed that they may face charges for allegedly violating the Peaceful Assembly Law—a law Human Rights Watch says is fundamentally flawed. Burma’s President Thein Sein has called for an investigation into the March 5 events but has not said whether Burma will investigate the latest clash on March 10.
The brute force employed by the police and plainclothes vigilantes in both instances is reminiscent of violence employed against pro-democracy protesters in 1988 when Burma was still a military junta. While Burma claims to be undertaking democratic reform, persistent challenges to political freedom undermine claims that reforms will last.
Back-peddling on reforms will continue to cast doubt on the commitment of the Burmese government to democratic reform and therefore on a U.S. policy premised on that commitment. It is long past time to return the stick of sanctions to a policy that has become all carrot. The true test of Burmese democracy, after all, is in the not-too-distant future: the free and fair conduct of national elections this fall.