19 May 2016

Police charged 51 labor rights protestors…under four separate charges, including Article 505(b) of the Burmese Penal Code, which can carry a two-year sentence for disturbing the public order.

The article prohibits circulating statements that could cause fear or alarm to the public or upset public tranquility; under the former government, it was criticized as being a catchall punishment for anything deemed as dissent.

The 100 workers were marching from a plywood factory in the Sagaing Industrial Zone, following an unresolved labor dispute and failed negotiations with Myanmar Veneer Plywood Private Ltd. (MVPPL). Protestors began marching from Sagaing Division to Naypyidaw in late April, in an effort to meet with Burma’s President Htin Kyaw, whom they believed would find a favorable resolution…