8.8.88

8888 Uprising
1st row: Protesters gathering at Sule Pagoda, central Rangoon 2nd row: Protesters rallying in Mandalay; Aung San Suu Kyi addresses half a million of protesters at central Yangon. 3rd row: Soldiers about to open fire on protesters; Two doctors carry a critically wounded school girl.
Date	12 March 1988 (1988-03-12) – 21 September 1988 (1988-09-21)
Location	Burma (Nationwide)
Caused by	Withdrawal of currency notes without compensation Economic mismanagement Failure of the Burmese Way to Socialism Police brutality Corruption Military dictatorship
Goals	Democracy in Burma
Methods	Civil disobedience Civil resistance Demonstrations Riots Strike actions
Resulted in	Violently suppressed
Concessions given	Pledged elections (results were not honoured) Resignation of General Ne Win
Number
1 million protesters in Yangon 500,000 at Shwedagon Pagoda 500,000 at Downtown Yangon 100,000 in Mandalay 50,000 in Sittwe Unknown number of others countrywide
Casualties
Death(s)	3,000–10,000 Tens of thousands of protesters fled to Thailand and joined insurgent groups
Injuries	Unknown
Arrested	Unknown

The 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests (MLCTS: hrac le: lum:), also known as the People Power Uprising, the People's Democracy Movement and the 1988 Uprising, were a series of nationwide protests, marches and civil unrest in Burma (Myanmar) that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988 and therefore it is known as the 8888 Uprising. The protests began as a student movement and were organised largely by university students at the Rangoon Arts and Sciences University and the Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT).

Since 1962, the country had been ruled by the Burma Socialist Programme Party regime as a one-party state, headed by General Ne Win. Under the government agenda, called the Burmese Way to Socialism, which involved economic isolation, Burma became one of the world's most impoverished countries. Many firms in the formal sector of the economy were nationalised, and the government combined Soviet-style central planning with Buddhist and traditional beliefs.

The 8888 uprising was started by students in Yangon (Rangoon) on 8 August 1988. Student protests spread throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of monks, children, university students, housewives, doctors and common people protested against the government. The uprising ended on 18 September after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Thousands of deaths have been attributed to the military during this uprising, while authorities in Myanmar put the figure at around 350 people killed.

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