Burma's 'Black Friday'

By Simon Montlake
In northern Burma

Suu Kyi's convoy was travelling along this country road

Our correspondent is one of the few journalists to have visited a remote part of northern Burma that was the scene of a violent clash leading to the latest detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Overhung by tamarind trees beside a dusty creek in northern Burma, the two timber-framed houses were once desirable places to live.

But today they lie empty, haunted by the ghosts of a massacre that took place on 30 May.

That night, thousands of men armed with sticks, clubs and rocks attacked a convoy led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and supporters from her National League for Democracy (NLD).

As many as 70 people may have died in the violence, according to exiled opposition groups, who blame the attack on the ruling military junta.

Aung San Suu Kyi was detained that night along with several party colleagues. Many more have since been put under house arrest or taken into custody.

Troubling memories

Two weeks on, the reverberations from the attack are still being felt both inside and outside Burma.

For the villagers who live along the one-lane country road where the ambush occurred, the memories of so-called "Black Friday" are vivid and troubling.

Some local residents were press-ganged to join the attack, without being told whom they were lining up to fight.

US diplomats who travelled to the site of the attack found blood stained clothes and weapons strewn across the road.

They say the debris corroborates eyewitness accounts of a planned attack by pro-government thugs against the convoy of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Opposition groups outside Burma agree.

"This was a vicious, one-sided attack on the democracy movement. It's one of the biggest political crimes in Burma since 1988," said Soe Aung of the National Council of the Union of Burma.

Trained convicts

Eyewitnesses say thousands of men were involved in the operation, which continued late into the night.

Among them was a group of 30 or more convicts.

Opposition sources say they were taken from Mandalay prison and trained at a nearby army camp.

The talks gave hope to the people of a change. Now... the door to change is closed. Where is the hope? Zaw Moe Kyaw, exiled opposition member

That afternoon, they were moved into the two houses next to the creek, whose occupants had been sent packing, and plied with free alcohol.

The attack began soon after sunset, when Suu Kyi's convoy was trapped at a narrow crossing.

It was a frenzied, one-sided battle that lasted late into the night.

Now the convicts have gone and the two houses are empty and shuttered.

Local residents say the families that lived there before are reluctant to return, at least until life returns to normal.

Tensions are still running high, particularly among villagers who were tricked into fighting against a courageous woman known to Burmese simply as "the Lady".

Security forces have responded by stepping up patrols to clamp down on any dissent.

Aung San Suu Kyi is now in "protective custody"

In Monywa, the largest town in the area, an undeclared curfew keeps most people home after 2000 local time.

The cinema, whose Burmese and Indian offerings are advertised in splashy hand-painted signs, has cancelled evening screenings.

A foreign observer who was in Monywa on the night of the attack describes the morning-after mood there as "furious but resigned", as word got around of what had happened.

"There was a feeling of outrage, but then what are you going to do? I saw very aggressive patrolling by the police. They were pointing weapons and casting dirty looks at everyone. It was tense. You couldn't talk to anyone," he said.

'Ready to fight'

Elsewhere in Burma - a formerly prosperous British colony that has gradually slid into penury during decades of military misrule - reaction seems muted to the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Given the rough treatment meted out to "destructive elements" by security forces, public protests carry a heavy price tag.

It is unclear whether her continued detention could trigger demonstrations.

Some opposition sources in northern Burma say monks are prepared to use their moral force against the regime, if "the Lady" is not released unharmed.

Others warn, however, that soldiers fired on monks during the 1988 uprising and would be ready to do so again.

"We're ready to fight with our fists, but we can't fight against the guns," an opposition politician told the foreign observer in Monywa.

But for most ordinary people in Burma, the hardships of daily life prevail over politics.

Annual inflation is estimated at 60%, and incomes are falling behind.

Even middle-class households are feeling the pinch, after a banking crisis earlier this year led to limits on cash withdrawals.

An artisan in Mandalay said his family could no longer afford to give a full meal to the monks who collect morning alms.

Instead, he said, they dole out only rice without curry or vegetables, when monks pass by in the morning.

"Even the rice is expensive, so we are struggling every day," he said.

For the Burmese frustrated with life under the regime, the latest crackdown is a heavy blow, after talks began two years ago promised progress towards national reconciliation.

"The talks gave hope to the people of a change. Now the regime has attacked the NLD and suddenly the door to change is closed. Where is the hope?" asked Zaw Moe Kyaw, an exiled member of the banned Democratic Party for a New Society.