(24 May 2009)
1. Wide of Burmese exiles carrying banners and photographs of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi outside the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok
2. Thai police outside Chinese Embassy
3. Various of protesters chanting and holding banners outside embassy
4. Wide of Chinese flag which is behind line of trees
5. Wide of group outside embassy
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Myo Naing, Burmese Association of Thailand:
"Every time the sanctions, the UN (tries to) make sanctions against Burma but every time China and Russia, they refuse to sanction Burma."
7. Protester with megaphone leading chants; others join in and punch the air
8. Various of protesters chanting against China and Russia
9. Police officer observing protest
STORYLINE:
Approximately 40 Burmese exiles staged a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok on Sunday calling on the Chinese government to act against Myanmar's leaders.
China, which borders Myanmar, has close ties with the military junta and consistently refuses to support sanctions against it.
The protesters chanted and held banners relating to the arrest and ongoing trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Friday, all 15 United Nations Security Council members released a press statement expressing their concern "about the political impact of recent developments relating to Suu Kyi."
They reiterated the need for Myanmar's military leaders "to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue" with Suu Kyi and other opposition and minority groups "to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation."
The United States had initially urged the council to adopt a stronger presidential statement, which becomes part of the council's official record.
But diplomats said it was downgraded to a press statement to get approval from China and Russia, which have close ties to Myanmar's military government.
Suu Kyi has been charged with violating her house arrest after an uninvited American visitor stayed at her resident without permission from the government
Authorities detained John Yettaw after he left Suu Kyi's heavily guarded compound earlier this month and charged the Nobel peace laureate with violating terms of her house arrest by allowing the American to stay at her home.
Several items left by Yettaw included a book on the Mormon faith and a letter which could be used to convict and imprison Suu Kyi.
Yettaw swam across a lake to her Yangon home under the cover of darkness earlier this month and entered her compound uninvited.
Suu Kyi, who has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, pleaded not guilty Friday after the special court trying her agreed to accept the charges and proceed with her trial.
Myanmar's courts operate under the influence of the ruling military and almost always deal harshly with political dissidents.
The trial, which is to resume after the weekend, has sparked new international criticism of the military junta and calls for Suu Kyi's immediate release.
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