By SAW YAN NAING
Monday, January 28, 2008

Despite tightened security, dissident activists in Arakan State's
Taunggok Township launched an anti-government poster campaign early on
Monday, according to local sources.

A pro-democracy activist told The Irrawaddy that the campaigners
affixed posters in the city's downtown hospitals, markets and crowded
places, calling for the release of all political prisoners, Buddhist
monks and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The posters also urged the military junta to stop arresting dissidents
and to start a dialogue with opposition groups for national
reconciliation in Burma, according to the activist. They also demanded
respect for human rights.

The authorities were now busy removing the posters, the activist said.

The poster campaign was launched despite the presence over the past
week of about 30 armed security guards around pagodas and markets.

Moe Naing Soe, a member of the National League for Democracy, said
security forces had also been reinforced near highways and city tea shops.

Uniformed police and security forces equipped with batons and other
weapons were also being beefed up in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State,
a local resident reported. The security presence was particularly
strong around the city's monasteries.

Thousands of Buddhist monks demonstrated in Sittwe in September
against the sharp increases in the price of fuel and other commodities.

Two men arrested in Taunggok Township on January 22 for holding a
demonstration calling for democracy and the release of Suu Kyi will go
on trial on February 5, local sources said. The two were identified as
Kalar Shwe, aka Than Htay, and Zaw Naing.