Myanmar’s military junta detained pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and closed her party’s headquarters Saturday, further jeopardizing efforts to restore civilian rule in the troubled southeast Asian nation.
Suu Kyi and 19 members of her National League for Democracy party were put in “protective custody” after a clash Friday between her supporters and thousands of pro-junta protesters in the country’s north, Brig. Gen. Than Tun said.
He said four people were killed and 50 injured, though Suu Kyi and her supporters were unhurt.
There were no independent accounts of the violence, which Than Tun said erupted when Suu Kyi’s motorcade entered the town of Dipeyin, part of her monthlong tour of the north.
About 5,000 people were waiting in the streets, angered by Suu Kyi’s recent negative comments about the military government, Than Tun said. A scuffle around her motorcade turned into a two-hour fight that police had to break up.
He denied reports that shots were fired at her car.
The junta then closed Suu Kyi’s headquarters in the capital, Yangon, and cut its phone lines. Sources in the northern city of Mandalay said the NLD office there also was closed.
Than Tun said Suu Kyi had violated an agreement with the junta by reopening party offices without telling local authorities.
