Demonstrations Burma

Burmese troops fired on a throng of anti-government demonstrators in downtown Rangoon on Saturday, wounding three. The brief round of gunfire was the first directed against protesters in the edgy Burmese capital in more than a month. According to eyewitness reports reaching Bangkok, soldiers fired from rooftop positions around the four-story Trade Ministry building, two blocks from the colonial Strand Hotel.

The United States said Thursday that it has "credible reports" that Burmese students arrested after rebelling against their country's military government died in the custody of authorities. According to recent reports from Rangoon, Burmese students who fled to the countryside when the military crushed their rebellion are being rounded up by the police and army when they return to the capital. Some of the students' families have been told that their loved ones died while in custody.

Burmese leaders ordered troops out of central Rangoon on Tuesday to avoid clashes with demonstrators protesting authoritarian rule as tens of thousands of people marched in the capital and in four other cities, diplomats and news reports said. President Maung Maung's government acknowledged the two days of massive protests late Tuesday. State-run Radio Rangoon also reported the first shooting by security forces since the rioting that toppled hard-line President Sein Lwin on Aug. 12.

Burma's military rulers issued a series of threats to strikers in an effort to get the sullen population back to work. The state radio warned that "effective action" would be taken against activists trying to prolong strikes beyond today's back-to-work deadline set by the government. The capital of Rangoon was quiet, but army patrols were stepped up in many areas and about 400 soldiers gathered near Shwedagon Pagoda, the site of many previous large-scale demonstrations.

Thousands of anti-government protesters again took to the streets of Burma's two largest cities, demanding an end to 26 years of one-party rule and rigid socialism, diplomats and news reports said. About 5,000 protesters rallied outside Rangoon General Hospital, which Western diplomats said was the largest demonstration there since last week's bloody riots toppled hard-line President Sein Lwin.

Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators rallied in Burma's two largest cities Thursday to demand a leader from outside the hard-line military clique that has ruled for 26 years, diplomats said. But analysts said that Burma's only party and its legislature, scheduled to meet today in emergency session, are likely to ignore the demand.

Angel's Flight has become Los Angeles' Flight of Fancy (Metro, July 26). I clipped Carol McGraw's fine article and sent it to my mother, thanking her for taking me on Angel's Flight when I was a child. That one ride will live in my memory forever. At this rate, it'll have to. SHERRY BARBER Whittier

The United States, which in the past has given limited support to the government of Burma as part of the American campaign against illegal drugs, took steps Thursday to distance itself from the regime of military leader Sein Lwin in the midst of its bloody suppression of anti-government protests. A State Department spokesman said the situation in Burma is "very fluid," with the outcome uncertain, and the United States issued a new warning against travel to Burma. Meanwhile, U.S.

Retired Gen. Tin Oo, a former Burmese defense minister whose influence still reaches deep into the ranks of the military, demanded Saturday that the beleaguered government of the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party give way to an interim regime. "The light of democracy is visible, but the final goal has yet to be achieved," the 62-year-old one-time army chief of staff told a cheering rally of 50,000 in downtown Rangoon, the Burmese capital.

"We have to take this step by step," Aung San Suu Kyi said, explaining the fragile condition of the Burmese opposition, which just two weeks ago appeared to have a despotic government on the run. At that time, Aung San Suu Kyi--the daughter of a Burmese independence leader--and two former generals, each with a separate following, were rejecting a civilian president's promise of democratic elections. No deal, they said, unless the vote is carried out under a nonpartisan interim regime.

A U.N. relief agency said Saturday that it will airlift 82 tons of emergency medical supplies to Burma, where hospitals are struggling to cope with the casualty toll from a military crackdown on the opposition. A spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said $1 million worth of drugs and essential hospital equipment will be flown to Bangkok from Copenhagen on Tuesday for transshipment to Rangoon.

Three opposition leaders declared Friday that they will form a united front to oppose the military government of Gen. Saw Maung, which took power last weekend. The announcement marked the first formal attempt by Aung Gyi, Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi to unite the numerous student, worker and other groups seeking an end to 26 years of autocratic military rule and ruinous economic policies.

Gen. Saw Maung on Wednesday became Burma's fourth head of government in two months. State radio said he was named prime minister by the nine-member governing council, appointed the day before and made up primarily of his military cronies. He also holds the defense and foreign affairs portfolios. Demonstrators demanding democracy and a halt to 26 years of authoritarian rule stayed off the streets Wednesday for the second day during the crackdown by the new military regime.

In a bloody imposition of military rule, more than 150 people were reported killed Monday when Burmese soldiers fired into crowds of angry demonstrators in sporadic clashes across Rangoon and in several provinces. Accounts of the shootings remained confused and casualty reports varied widely. But the military command, which took power Sunday from the government of President Maung Maung, announced that soldiers shot at "violent and unruly mobs" in the Burmese capital.

Here is a chronology of events leading to military commander Saw Maung's ouster of civilian President Maung Maung: September, 1987--Government makes 80% of currency worthless, sparking first big street protests in 13 years. March, 1988--Rioters storm through Rangoon setting fire to buildings and vehicles in weeklong disturbances after death of student in brawl.

The armed forces seized power Sunday in Burma, and soldiers opened fire on defiant students, Buddhist monks and other protesters in downtown Rangoon early today. Witnesses said casualties were heavy. Word of the coup came in a 4 p.m. broadcast over Rangoon Radio. Army Chief of Staff Saw Maung declared in a brief statement: "The defense forces have assumed all power in the state." The army pledged to impose law and order in the rebellious country and then hold promised multi-party elections.

Burmese troops fired on a throng of anti-government demonstrators in downtown Rangoon on Saturday, wounding three. The brief round of gunfire was the first directed against protesters in the edgy Burmese capital in more than a month. According to eyewitness reports reaching Bangkok, soldiers fired from rooftop positions around the four-story Trade Ministry building, two blocks from the colonial Strand Hotel.