Federal Police needs to
apologize
Date: Thursday, May 10,
2001 4:15 PM
MEDIA RELEASE
May 10, 2001
Attention: Chief of Staff
Foreign
Affairs Reporter
Federal Police attack
Burmese protest in Canberra, linked to Burma visit
Federal Police last
Friday, May 4, attacked a peaceful protest by 80 Burmese
people and supporters
outside the Burmese Military Embassy in Yarralumla, on
the pretext that the
burning of the flag of the military dictatorship was a
threat to order.
At the same time, the
AFP Director General, Michael Keelty and a police
delegation were in
Rangoon (Yangon), where they visited the Criminal
Investigation Department
and attended the opening of an Australian Police
Force Public Relations
Office at the Australian Embassy. Keelty’s group flew
home on May 5.
“The AFP became more
aggressive to our protest to facilitate their
cooperation with the
Burmese police and military regime,” said Maung Maung
Than of the Free Burma
Action Committee, who was among those kicked and
beaten by the police in
Canberra.
“We call for a
parliamentary inquiry into the attack by the AFP against our
protest on May 4, and
for a parliamentary review of the AFP program in
Burma,” said Maung Maung
Than. “We appreciate the support of Wayne Barry,
Labor Leader in the ACT
Legislative Assembly, and Jeremy Pyner of the ACT
Trades & Labor
Council for an inquiry, and a formal police apology to the
Burmese community.
“The Australian
government is making the same mistake in Burma that it made
in Indonesia and East
Timor, by placing trust in a brutal military
dictatorship,” said
Maung Maung Than. “Instead of cooperating with and
legitimising these
generals who have imposed forced labour on two million
Burmese people, the
Australian government should join the global movement to
fully isolate and
discredit the military dictatorship in Burma."
For further comment:
Ko Maung Maung Than -
Central Coordinator, Free Burma Action Committee
Phone / Fax:
+61-2-96435646; mobile 0411337816
Email.
freeburma9999@hotmail.com,