Police clash with student protesters in Burma

(Vatican Radio) There have been clashes between police and students in Letpadan north of Yangon in Burma. Riot police reportedly beat students with batons and detained some of them as they broke up a group of about 200 protesters who had been locked in a standoff with security forces for more than a week.

The students were protesting an education bill they say stifles academic independence.

A group of them had set out on foot from the central city of Mandalay more than a month ago in a symbolic protest.

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with the Director of the Burma Campaign UK, Mark Farmaner

Speaking to Vatican Radio, Director of the Burma Campaign UK, Mark Farmaner said that, “the way that the government has gone about this education reform law is the way it’s gone about reforming lots of other laws, which is top down, not listening to the affected communities or people...”

He goes on to say that the regime’s handling of the student protests is just “the old style pattern from the regime, it’s as if the reforms never happened…”

Meanwhile,

A new report by Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma documented 107 cases of human rights violations in Burma from July to December 2014.

The violations documented during these six months occurred in areas of armed conflict but also in areas covered by ceasefires.

On these finding Mark Farmaner commented that even despite peace processes and ceasefires there has been no reduction in these kinds of cases.