Pro-government film shot in Prome

Nov 12, 2007 (DVB) Around 200 government supporters and township police officers have been involved in a video shoot in Prome in which they re-enact the suppression of the recent monk-led protests.

Around 200 members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, Swan Arr Shin and township police have taken part in the filming in the grounds of Prome airport in Bago division, according to a source who had access to those involved in the shoot.

A number of people posing as monks have also been involved in the filming. Prior to the making of the video, those involved undertook one month of riot training in preparation. The source said that those present acted out the recent protests, but made it look as though the government's crackdown came as a result of violence from the monks.

"The film looks like it's about the monk protests, but it shows the township police trying to suppress the violence initiated by monks. Then they have to call in the military when they can't overpower the monks," the source said. "So the military arrive, and first they fire rubber bullets into the crowd and some people get hit, but they made it look as though they had not choice but to fire as the monks were really getting out of hand," he said.

The scenes showed police officers following the orders of their superiors to ease the situation as much as possible without resorting to violence.

The source speculated that the film could be used to present a distorted picture of what happened during the crackdown on protests; however, the true purpose of the film could not be confirmed.