iSurprise Yangon Student Union

Brutal bombing

This is a memorial site for the students that were killed in the brutal bombing of the Yangon Student Union building in 1962, killing at least 100 students. This was Ne Win’s harsh response to student protests in his infamous “match sword with a sword, spear with spear” policy.

Independence leader

Next to the site is a memorial stone dedicated to student leader Bo Aung Kyaw, the first student leader who died in the independence struggle of Myanmar. He was killed on 20th December 1938 by British Indian Imperial Police outside the Secretariat building in downtown Yangon, when the student boycott triggered a strike that was then joined by Burma Oil Company workers.