Burma's main opposition party observed the nation's 86th anniversary with a renewed call for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The opposition National League for Democracy (N.L.D.) held a small rally at its headquarters in Rangoon today. The group issued a statement calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.
Burma's military government has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in Rangoon for most of the past 17 years. Burma's anniversary - celebrated as National Day - commemorates a 1920 strike by students, considered to be the start of the nation's movement for independence from Britain. Military governments have ruled Burma since the early 1960s.
The National League for Democracy won Burma's national elections by a landslide in 1990, but the military prevented the N.L.D. from taking power, and took Aung San Suu Kyi into detention shortly after.
