Yangon: Myanmar Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan has warned the junta will take action against pro-democracy activists campaigning for the release of political prisoners.

Speaking at the press conference in Yangon on Thursday, Kyaw Hsan said the activists, the “88 Generation Student Group,” are trying to “incite public unrest” in the military-ruled country by organizing series of nonviolent campaigns to release political prisoners, including detained opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We will have to arrest and charge those who are trying to create public unrest and instability and jeopardize the peace and stability of the country,” he warned.

A group of pro-democracy activists formed with former student leaders of the 1988 popular uprising against military rule in Myanmar launched in early October a signature campaign across the country urging the junta to release all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi and five members of their group — Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Min Zayar, Htay Kyawe and Pyone Cho.

The Junta detained the five in late September, saying the action was “necessary to prevent unrest.”

Many of the members of the group, which supports Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, have al-ready served prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years following a crackdown on their movement in the early 1990s.

More than 530,000 signatures seeking release of the political prisoners were gathered during a two-week campaign, the group said.

The group also organized a “White expression campaign” last month, calling on people to wear white shirts as a sign of support for the group and their goals.

Last week, they organized a weeklong “prayer campaign” from Sunday, calling on the populace to hold mass prayer vigils for the release of political prisoners.

But junta minister Kyaw Hsan claimed the group is backed by “dissident organizations outside the country” and was trying to attract attention while Myanmar’s abysmal human rights situation is on U.N. Security Council agenda.

He claimed the junta confiscated, in December last year, letters and money from sent from a dissident in Thailand to the now detained Ko Ko Gyi and that junta had closely monitored the group’s activities since then.

Kyaw Hsan also accused Western embassies in Yangon of supporting the group.

The U.S. and British embassies in Yangon helped the group’s members obtain about $50,000 from organizations outside the country, Kyaw Hsan claimed.

“It is obvious the group is acting as a domestic arm for antigovernment dissident organizations outside the country,” Kyaw Hsan charged.