Myanmar activists pray for jailed colleagues

YANGON, Oct 29 (Reuters) A group of activists behind a rare signature campaign in military-ruled Myanmar calling for the release of political prisoners kicked off a week-long prayer vigil at Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda today.

Despite tight security, several hundred activists and sympathizers turned up at the glittering Buddhist shrine, wearing white and holding candles for the mass prayer session.

However, extra security officials at the temple entrances prevented those wearing white from entering.

The ''1988 Generation'' students group behind the campaign sent letters to the leaders of all religious organisations on Friday, urging them to hold prayers at their respective places of worship from Octber 29 to November 4.

The group takes its name from the mass, nationwide student uprisings of 1988, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people when the army decided to move in to put a stop to the calls for a return to civilian rule.

The junta today also blocked off on Sunday the road past the house of detained opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than ten of the last 17 years either in jail or under house arrest.

After the arrest of five ''1988 Generation'' student leaders last month, their colleagues said they had gathered more than 530,000 signatures nationwide appealing for the release of all political prisoners.

Official media in the former Burma, which has been under army rule of one form or another since 1962, accused the campaign of faking signatures.

There are more than 1,100 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to the United Nations.

REUTERS SP RN1416