Thousands of people protested in eastern Myanmar on Sunday against plans to name a bridge after Aung San Suu Kyi's father, the latest flashpoint between her administration and the country's restless ethnic minorities. The issue highlights some of the deep distrust among Myanmar's patchwork of minorities towards the Bamar ethnic majority from which Suu Kyi and most of the political establishment hail.
Thousands hit the streets of eastern Mon State on Sunday, the biggest rally yet against plans to rename the local Thanlwin bridge spanning the wide Salween River.
Lawmakers from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party have proposed calling it the Bogyoke Aung San bridge.
Aung San was Suu Kyi's father, seen as the founder of post-colonial Myanmar who was assassinated before the country won its independence from Britain.
Many of those protesting on Sunday said locals felt their wishes to keep the old name were being ignored. "The NLD is powerful in the parliament and nowadays they can do whatever proposal as they like," demonstrator Lin Htet, 34, told AFP.