Burma The Armed Forces Seize Power

A civilian president is ousted as the revolutionary tide rises

Red-and-gold peacock banners fluttered over much of Burma last week, symbols of a national student movement that had become an uprising. Once again, hundreds of thousands of protesting citizens poured into the streets of major cities in a concerted effort to bring down the tottering government of the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party (B.S.P.P.). To a large extent they had already succeeded. Burma's second largest city, Mandalay, was under the control of Buddhist monks: saffron-robed holy men, known as sanghas, were directing traffic. In Rangoon, the capital, the entire civil service had deserted the government. A new opposition leadership was working...

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