page_title: 1962 Rangoon University protests
section_title: Student protests on the campus of Rangoon University on 7 July 1962
hierarchical_section_title: 1962 Rangoon University protests / Protests and crackdown / Student protests on the campus of Rangoon University on 7 July 1962
caption_attribution_description: English: Riot polices with baton crack down brutally on peaceful demonstrators.
context_page_description: The 1962 Rangoon University protests were a series of marches, demonstrations, and protests against stricter campus regulations, the end of the system of university self-administration, and the policy of the new military regime of General Ne Win. The main events took place in Rangoon, Burma on 7–8 July 1962. On 7 July 1962, the military regime violently suppressed a student demonstration at Rangoon University attended by some 5,000 students. This resulted in the deaths of more than one hundred, and the arrest of more than 6,000 students according to unofficial sources. However, official government statements put the death toll at 15. In the morning hours of the next day, the military regime blew up the historic Rangoon University Students' Union building, which had been the symbol of the anti-colonial nationalism struggle since the 1920s.
  The reaction of the military regime disclosed for the first time its new tough stance against all regime opponents as part of implementing the new state ideology, the Burmese Way to Socialism, which included bringing "almost all of Burma's political, social, and economic life under strict military control".
context_section_description: On 7 July 1962, the students had discussed "unjust" hostel rules in the Assembly Hall of the RUSU building for about an hour, when some 2,000 students embarked on a peaceful protest march on the Rangoon University campus to announce they would continue to oppose military regime's hostel regulations. About an hour later, at 3:00 p.m., the protest dispersed and the students returned to their hostels and homes. However, leading members of the RUSU, including President Ba Swe, continued to discuss the matter of hostel regulations and define a strategy for the protests.
  In the following minutes a special dynamic evolved which would reveal for the first time the military regime's new tough stance against anti-regime actors challenging the government's claim for absolute domination. According to eyewitness reports, the police arrived with eight army jeeps and land-rovers, stormed the RUSU building, and arrested members of the RUSU, including the president. Students who fled the scene are said to have spread the news about the events. As a result, hundreds of students came out of their hostels and started to fight the police. The military regime sent in more police cars and started to spray tear gas at the students. They threw stones and lit fireworks whilst shouting offensive slogans targeted against General Ne Win. The events generally followed a pattern persistent since the first student protests emerged in colonial Burma. During past incidents of student demonstrations, the protests first centred around genuine student issues—in this case the new stricter hostel regulations. The student leaders then utilised existing momentum and transformed the dynamic into a general political protest against the Ne Win government. Some authors report that police cars were set on fire and some policemen were injured. However, in the absence of reliable sources, it remains unclear which side started the violent acts or how many students were already injured after this first clash.
  The military regime then hinted at its willingness to meet the student protest with firmness. Some hundreds to 2,000 soldiers from No. 4 Burmese Rifles Battalion, armed with G-3 rifles, surrounded the campus and took positions at around 5:30  p.m. After the students allegedly failed to comply with repeated requests by the military to disperse, Sein Lwin, who had arrived at the university only a couple of minutes before, presented an order to shoot the students. The unarmed students were shot at for less than thirty minutes. No one knows who gave the order to open fire. However, Aung Gyi and Tin Pe were the most senior officers at the time, and Sein Lwin was the field commanding officer in the university region. Later that evening, soldiers searched the student hostels and made further arrests. Official reports indicated that 15 students died and 27 were wounded. However, in Mandalay Hall alone more than 17 students died according to the official records. Reliable unofficial sources, however, speak of more than one hundred dead students in the deadliest event in the history of student protests in Burma to date. Additionally, it is estimated that some 3,000 students were arrested.
  Some authors put forward the argument the pronounced readiness of the government soldiers to shoot at the students can be attributed to a deeper, underlying ethnic and religious conflict. Purportedly, the soldiers were mostly members of the Chin, a predominantly Christian ethnic group located in the border region of Burma and India. They had little sympathy for the students in Rangoon, who had a largely urban Burmese Buddhist background.
caption: Riot police with batons crack down on demonstrators
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