Myanmar: Kanbalu Farmers Demand Release of 57 Jailed ‘Plough Protestors’

Aug 14, 2014 | DVB
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Some 1,500 farmers rallied for the release of 57 jailed land rights activists in central Burma’s Sagaing Division on Wednesday.

The demonstrators, who received permission from local authorities, have submitted their demands to Burma’s president and other relevant officials.

“These are our demands: the return of all farmland confiscated by the military; the release of farmers jailed for previous land rights protests; the dismissal of all outstanding trials related to land protests; and an immediate halt to the destruction of crops being carried out by the military,” said Mar Swe, a resident of Ngapyawdine village in Kanbalu, where locals have been protesting for months over land they say was seized by the military in the late 1990s.