Hundreds protest in Myanmar over fuel price hike

YANGON, Myanmar (Thomson Financial) – Pro-democracy activists led hundreds of people in a rare march through Myanmar’s main city of Yangon on Sunday, in protest against an enormous hike in fuel prices last week.

Myanmar’s ruling junta doubled key fuel prices on Wednesday without warning, leaving many urban workers unable to afford the cost of simply getting to their jobs.


Min Ko Naing, a prominent pro-democracy leader and one-time political prisoner, said a group of former student leaders decided to walk through the city in solidarity with residents who could no longer afford buses or taxis.

Hundreds of people marched through the city’s outlying neighbourhoods, and the crowd grew in size as bystanders and passersby joined the protesters, Min Ko Naing said.

‘The people from along the streets greeted and cheered us. Some people from the bus, they climbed down to participate in the demonstration,’ he told Agence France Presse.

‘We showed that the price increase for petrol was too much,’ he said.

Forbes