YANGON, Myanmar – Police in Myanmar's largest city have launched an investigation after a pro-independence flag dating from the 1930s was flown from the High Court building, local media reported Friday.
The flag -- similar to Myanmar's yellow, green and red horizontal tricolor but with the five-pointed star replaced by a green peacock -- was unfurled as a New Year's Day protest against the Letpadaung copper mining project took place nearby in Yangon, the Irrawaddy news website reported.
Tin Win, head of Kyauktada police, said a senior legal official filed a complaint under the 2010 State Flag Law. The guilty party faces a three-year prison sentence and a 300,000 kyats (US$290) fine if caught.
"So far, we haven't arrested anyone yet as we have just started looking for the culprit," he told the Irrawaddy.
It is illegal to deface the Myanmar flag, allow it to touch the ground, hoist it at half-mast without approval or display another flag in its place.
The flag raised on Thursday, which was taken down a few minutes after it was noticed, was used in the country's struggle against British colonialism in the 1930s, the Irrawaddy reported. The green peacock standard became the official flag of Burma during the final two years of World War II, when the country became nominally independent from Britain.
The green peacock was a traditional symbol of the Burmese monarchy, abolished in 1885 after the Third Anglo-Burman War established British sovereignty.
Copyright © 2015 Anadolu Agency
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/myanmar-police-investigate-green-peafowl-flag-raising/
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