HAGLEY campaigners are set to show their outrage about the detention of a woman described as Burma’s ‘Nelson Mandela’.
On Saturday June 19 members of St John’s and St Saviour’s Church will join human rights activists for an initiative by Amnesty International to mark the birthday of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Protestors will gather at Hagley Community Centre, Worcester Road, at 1pm, to show their support for the leader of the Burmese National League of Democracy, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years.
Protest organiser Dr David Nicholl, from Woodland Avenue, said: “In Burma, the harsh reality is that anyone brave enough to speak up against the regime can be monitored, harassed, discriminated against, detained, imprisoned, tortured and even killed.
“We felt that we could acknowledge solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese people.”
“We will all wear masks of Aung San’s face and have photographs taken. All the photos uploaded onto Facebook will be passed onto Aung San’s supporters In Burma.
“This will be a tremendous way to show that the people of Hagley are literally ‘at one’ with the people of Burma.”
The event in Hagley will be one of many around the world to support the political leader, who Archbishop Desmond Tutu compared to Mandela, during a day of action to highlight her plight.
Dr Nicholl is encouraging people to add their support and photographs, even if they cannot get to the Hagley demonstration, via the Foreign Office Facebook page www.facebook.com/fcoburma.
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