MANILA, Philippines -- Groups of various human rights
organizations have assembled here to show support for political prisoners detained in Myanmar.

Led by Free Burma Coalition in a demonstration on Buendia Avenue in Makati City, members of Amnesty International, Amnesty Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL),
Coalition Against the Trafficking of Women (CATW), Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Task Force Detainees
of the Philippines (TFDP), and Akbayan held a demonstration calling for the release of more than 2,000 "prisoners of conscience" who were imprisoned 20 years ago.

At that time in Myanmar, Burmese students gathered and staged demonstrations calling for democracy. These quickly spread in different parts of Myanmar until six weeks later, government security forces stepped in, killing approximately 3,000 people and imprisoning thousands more.

"We are also calling on the Chinese authorities to exert pressure on the Myanmar authorities such that they improve their human rights situation," Aurora Parong, section director of Amnesty International, said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

"The Beijing Olympics is a crowning glory for China. But the stain for China is the poor human rights situation inside its country and poor foreign policies -- for instance, supporting Myanmar authorities to have a record of two decades of human rights violation," Parong said.

In addition to the demonstrations held in the Philippines, they are also collecting signatures for the release of prisoners in Myanmar.

Apart from the freedom of the 2,000 and more prisoners, Amnesty International also asks to China re-evaluate their human rights program.

"In China, there should be a stoppage of Internet censorship, media freedom, and a stop to detention without charges," said Parong.