More than 7,000 police were deployed throughout Rangoon on Thursday in a security clampdown that followed a bomb blast near the former capital’s City Hall.
Armed police and soldiers inspect the bomb site (Photo: Myat Moe Maung/The Irrawaddy)A police source disclosed the extent of the clampdown to The Irrawaddy and said there were plans to raid the homes of dissidents, particularly youth members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
Travelers at Rangoon bus stations who could not provide identification documents in police checks were being arrested, said one source.
Another source told The Irrawaddy that a cordon of trucks carrying armed police had been deployed around the blast site, near the City Hall in Kyauktada Township. Ten trucks manned by riot police were patrolling downtown Rangoon, he said.
At least eight people were injured in Thursday morning’s bomb explosion, which occurred at a bus stop outside the Maha Bandoola Garden.
Security in the downtown area, already tight, was immediately stepped up, particularly near the Shwedagon and Sule Pagodas, rallying points in last September’s mass anti-government demonstrations.
Workers in government offices were told to return home early and several shops were ordered to close as rumors spread of another planned bombing. The government-run passport office also closed early.
The rumors were accompanied by speculation that the bombing could have been orchestrated by the regime to justify a security clampdown in anticipation of an anti-government demonstration on Friday, the anniversary of the violent crackdown on last year’s mass protest.
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