Police block poppy eradication campaigners in Kachin State
Police have halted a Kachin vigilante group in its attempt to destroy poppy fields in Waingmaw township. The movement, apparently undeterred by the death of one of its members at the hands of poppy growers and the violence directed against it, had reportedly swelled by hundreds of additional members.
About 800 of the activist volunteers were blocked on 16 February afternoon at Num Lau stream as they marched on two sub-townships in Waingmaw from their temporary camp in Naungmaw village.
Mung San Awng, a member of the vigilante group Pat Ja San, told The Myanmar Times police had forbidden them to advance further than Washaung village.
