Clandestine events were held across Myanmar to mark the 64th anniversary of the 7 July Student Uprising at Rangoon University in 1962. This solemn commemoration remembered the tragic events when the military regime of General Ne Win brutally suppressed a peaceful student protest.

On 7 July 1962, students at Rangoon University demonstrated against the new military government’s policies, which included stricter campus regulations and the termination of university self-administration. The military responded with violence, resulting in the deaths of over 100 students and the arrest of more than 6,000 others, according to unofficial sources. Official statements, however, claimed only 15 students died. The following day, the military demolished the historic Rangoon University Students’ Union (RUSU) building, a symbol of anti-colonial nationalism since the 1920s.

Pic: 1962 Rangoon University protests

In Yangon, the Anti-Junta Alliance Yangon (AJAY) organized a discreet event where people wore shirts with slogans like “7.7.62” and “Don’t Forget” in heavily monitored areas such as Sule and Hledan.

The All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) held a ceremony at their base in Thaton District, Mon State, to honor those who died in the uprising.

In Yaw Township, Magway Region, local resistance forces conducted a remembrance ceremony, saluting flags raised to half-mast in memory of the fallen students and monks.

The Student Union of Yenangyaung Township in Magway Region also held a memorial event and a literature talk at an independent school to commemorate the uprising.