Burmese Independance Day marked in riverside ceremony

Royal Barge inaugurated by Burmese exile

Burmese Independance Day has been marked in Brentford by the inauguration of a Royal Barge by HRH Prince Schwebomin, a Burmese exile regarded by some activists as the Crown Prince of Burma.

The Royal Barge Karaweik is moored alongside Watermans Park and is owned by Royal Burma Society member Caie Wesley Graham. The Royal Burma Society, founded in 1982, is a cultural organisation that provides humanitarian, spiritual and financial support for Burmese refugees and hosts social events for its members.

A ceremony featuring a nine gun salute was held to appoint Graham as Master and Commander of the barge. As part of Independence Day, a "Candles for Burma" ceremony was held in aid of Burmese refugee children in Thailand.

Burma acheived independence from Britain on 4 January 1948. An army coup in 1962 has led to years of terror within the country. Burma is ruled by one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world; a dictatorship charged by the United Nations with a “crime against humanity” for its systematic abuses of human rights, and condemned internationally for refusing to transfer power to the legally elected Government of the country – the party led by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

January 4, 2006