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(New York) - Burma should immediately release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other recently detained activists and allow the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation into attacks that left several dead and dozens injured, Human Rights Watch said today.

Aung San Suu Kyi and at least 17 officials of her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were detained after a clash in the town of Ye-u on May 30, after reportedly being attacked by members of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), a government-created organization that has increasingly taken on a paramilitary character. According to military officials, four people were killed and fifty injured in the attack. Aung San Suu Kyi has officially been placed in "protective custody," but her whereabouts remain unknown, raising concerns about her condition.

Aung San Suu Kyi had spent the last month touring northern and central Burma, attracting large crowds of supporters and, according to press reports, growing harassment from armed USDA members. Following the incident, the government shut the country's universities as well as several offices of the NLD.

"This looks like a deliberate attempt by the government to provoke violence to justify a crackdown," said Brad Adams, director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. "Unless the government gets the message that this is unacceptable, there's clearly the potential for more bloodshed."

Human Rights Watch called for the release of those detained and all others imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their views in Burma. It also urged the Burmese government to hold accountable any member of the military or the USDA found responsible for the violence, and to permit the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, to conduct an independent investigation into the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her party.

"The government needs to stop persecuting its critics and start serious talks about making the transition to a rights-respecting member of the international community," Adams said.

Human Rights Watch urged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan not to send his Special Envoy, Razali Ismail, back to Burma as planned without specific assurances from the Burmese authorities that Aung San Suu Kyi will be freed and able to speak privately to Razali.

"The United Nations and the international community need to make it clear that it will not be business as usual after these attacks," said Adams.

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