A dozen young rebels, armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, yesterday held diplomats and foreigners inside the Myanmar Embassy as hostages while demanding the release of all political prisoners in their military-ruled homeland, police and the group said.
Three of the hostages, including a Thai guard, a Thai woman and a Myanmar Embassy gardener, were later released.
The rebels reportedly asked for a helicopter to fly them and some hostages to the Thai-Myanmar frontier, where the Myanmar rebel movement is based.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Calling themselves the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, the unknown group also demanded the convening of an elected Parliament and dialogue between Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the military.
There were reportedly three Canadians, three Frenchmen, one American, one German and a small number of Malaysians, Singaporeans and Thais were among the hostages, according to AsiaWorks, a local media group which contacted one of the foreigners inside the embassy by telephone.
The foreigners, who were all reported safe, were probably at the embassy to obtain visas.
"If the [military] would not follow our demands it is fully responsible for the consequences of this action," the English-language statement said.
Chettha Thanajaro, an interior ministry advisor, said he believed the group had seized about 30 hostages inside the embassy. Police surrounding the area dove for cover as shots periodically rang out from within the walled compound.
Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart and General Pornsak Durongkavibul, deputy head of the national police, were negotiating with the hostage-takers as more than 100 policemen, including SWAT teams and police dogs, surrounded the embassy compound.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS