Myanmar police crack down on students protesting education reform

Fierce clashes have erupted between riot police in Myanmar and student protesters trying to break through a wall of security guards in a demonstration against education reforms in the Southeast Asian country.

On Tuesday, hundreds of police used batons and lashes to disperse a group of about 200 student protesters who had gathered in the streets of the central town of Letpadan, located about 140km (100 miles) north of Myanmar’s main city of Yangon, to urge the government to scrap the newly-passed law, which they say, curbs academic freedom.

The students had paraded from the central city of Mandalay more than a month ago in a symbolic protest. However, they had made it as far as Letpadan.

Some of the demonstrators sustained injuries as they tried to push through the blockade by security personnel who have besieged the protesters since March 2.

“We cannot accept this kind of crackdown,” a student protester said.

Police had earlier given them a deadline to cancel their protest, and disperse them. However, violence escalated as officials blocked the activists from pressing ahead with their previously planned protest march in Yangon on Tuesday, despite earlier agreement to allow for the students to proceed with their rally.

Tuesday scuffles (shown above) come as Myanmarese authorities previously cracked down on a rally, which was held in support of the students, in Yangon on Thursday.

Based on the education law, ratified by the parliament in September last year, a body comprising largely of government ministers will be responsible for all decisions about education policies and curriculum. Students, however, are calling for decentralizing the education system.

The law also bans students from forming unions and prohibits the use of local languages in instruction in ethnic states.

The students began their protest rallies in November last year and have collected support for their march from ordinary people as well as monks.