Suu Kyi calls for democracy

Myanmar pro-democracy leader gives first political speech after her release from seven-year house arrest.

14 Nov 2010

Aung San Suu Kyi has called for democracy while addressing her supporters in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, on her first full day of freedom after being released following seven years under house arrest.

The pro-democracy leader appeared before her supporters and media at around noon (05:30 GMT) on Sunday at the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NDL), to make her first major speech.

Thousands of people greeted as she got out of her car at the offices of her officially disbanded political party on Sunday.

She was also expected to meet diplomats and attend the funeral of a close friend.

"She plans to meet some of the diplomatic staff … from around the world. Some of those people who have been calling for her release for the past seven years," Al Jazeera's correspondent reported from Yangon.

The correspondent, who cannot be named for security reasons, said that there was no sign of an police and military presence around the city ahead of the speech.

In the evening, Aung San Suu Kyi was planning a customary visit to Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda.

She made a brief public appearance on Saturday shortly after her release from house arrest. Witnesses said hundreds of people rushed to her home after the authorities removed barbed-wire barricades in front of her compound.

"We must work together in unison to achieve our goal," Aung San Suu Kyi told her supporters in an appearance at the gate of her compound, as the crowd chanted, cheered and sang the national anthem.

Al Jazeera's special correspondent, reporting from near her home in Yangon, said the crowd let out a huge cheer when the police vehicle left the compound, ending the latest period of arrest.

"It was almost impossible for her to speak," he said, adding that the cheering did not die down for at least 20 or 30 minutes while she stood there.

A smiling Aung San Suu Kyi, wearing a traditional jacket and a flower in her hair, told the crowd that she would stay inside her house that night.

Almost 1,000 people, including journalists, had gathered near her lakeside house throughout the day, many chanting "Release Aung San Suu Kyi" and "Long live Aung San Suu Kyi". Some wore T-shirts emblazoned with messages pledging to stand with her.

The Reuters news agency reported quoting a witness that Suu Kyi met a lawyer and a doctor inside her home shortly before she appeared at the gate.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia-pacific/2010/11/2010111444522729971.html.