Security is tight in the main Burmese city of Rangoon Friday asresidents quietly mark the 20th anniversary of a major pro-democracyuprising.
Millions of Burmese took to streets on August 8, 1988to protest against the ruling military junta, which had been in powersince 1962. The uprising brought down longtime junta chief Ne Win, butthe military eventually regained control after a bloody crackdown thatleft an estimated 3,000 people dead.
Armed guards haveposted at several important sites in Rangoon, including the famedShwedagon pagoda, Burma's holiest shrine. Security has tightened inBurma since the military's harsh crackdown on protests last year inwhich 31 people were killed.
No protests in Burma have been planned to mark the day, but demonstrations have taken place in Bangkok and Manila.
Aspokesperson for the National League for Democracy, Nyan Win, says Friday's anniversary marks an important turning point in Burma'shistory.
The protests pushed opposition leader Aung San SuuKyi into the political limelight and helped her found the NLD tochallenge army rule.
Burma's ruling junta allowed elections two years later, but refused to recognize the NLD's victory.
AungSan Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been under some form ofdetention for most of the past 18 years since the 1990 election.