Myanmar’s military-dominated parliament has passed a bill allowing citizens to protest peacefully, a lawmaker said yesterday — the latest in a rapid series of reformist moves in the country.
The bill, which needs to be signed off by Burmese President Thein Sein to become law, requires that demonstrators “inform the authorities five days in advance,” upper house member Aye Maung of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party said.
Protesters would be allowed to hold flags and party symbols, but must avoid government buildings, schools, hospitals and embassies, he said.
The bill came before parliament this week, four years after a mass monk-led protest known as the “Saffron Revolution” was brutally quashed, with the deaths of at least 31 people and the arrest of hundreds of monks.
Myanmar’s new parliament, dominated by army proxies, opened in January after nearly five decades of military rule following an election last November — the first in 20 years — that was dismissed by many observers as a sham.
The new leaders of the country have surprised observers with a number of reformist steps in an apparent move to end international isolation.
They have freed and held direct talks with long-detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, halted work on an unpopular dam project that was backed by key ally China, eased media censorship and passed a law giving workers the right to strike.
The government also held peace talks at the weekend with ethnic minority rebel groups who have been waging a violent insurgency for greater rights and autonomy for decades.
By way of diplomatic recognition for the promising gestures, Myanmar last week won approval to chair Southeast Asia’s regional bloc in 2014.
It also received a nod from US President Barack Obama, who said he would send US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Myanmar next month to encourage reform.
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