Myeinigone Market Incident

Myeinigone Market Incident:    (June 21, 1988)

   A major clash between student demonstrators and the authorities, which occurred near the Myeinigone (Myay Ni Gone) Market north of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon (Yangon). Several thousand students began a march from the Main Campus of Rangoon (Yangon) University to the Institute of Medicine downtown along Prome (Pyay) Road, protesting the imprisonment of their comrades and the suspension of classes on university campuses. Surrounded and attacked by Riot Police (Lon Htein) and army troops, they escaped into narrow side streets, were sheltered by local residents, and fought back using jinglees, or homemade catapults that launched sharpened bicycle spokes, like primitive crossbows. At least 10 Riot Police died, and students suffered an estimated 100 casualties. In 1998, a decade after the clash, there were rumors that the Myeinigone area was infested with nats, the ghosts of protestors who had been killed.

   See also Democracy Summer.

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Nats — Sometimes naq or na , spirits or gods, encompassing a wide variety of divine or supernatural beings in traditional Burmese religion. Although nat worship antedates the establishment of Theravada Buddhism as the state religion by King Anawrahta … Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)
Riot Police — (Lon Htein) Detachments of special police, essentially a paramilitary unit, used for crowd control, separate from the regular People s Police Force of the Ne Win era. Commanded by Sein Lwin, they killed hundreds of protesting students in… … Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)
Introduction — When Burma (Myanmar) achieved independence from British colonial rule in 1948, many observers viewed it with its high standards of education and abundant natural resources as one of the Asian countries most likely to achieve economic… … Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)

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