Jaw Gun, a Burmese peace activist from the Kachin Peace Network that organized and held September’s Peace Day Protest in Yangon was arrested, for being a art of a protest, effectively putting to test the “Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession” bill.

The bill ostensibly grants Burmese citizens an unprecedented right to protest, marking what some Western governments have claimed is a significant break with the past. But a number of clauses, notably one stating that permission must be granted days prior to the demonstration, severely curtail this apparent openness, and ensure the government retains control over what issues can and cannot be targeted by demonstrators.

It has also shown an arbitrariness over its use of the law: unlike the Kachin protests, none of the thousands who took part in the anti-Rohingya marches last month have been arrested, in all likelihood due to the demonstration being in support of President Thein Sein.

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