“Many townspeople saw the red writing in the early morning of Thursday at several key places in our town, but we do not know who wrote them by spray painting,” he said.

The unidentified spray painters had written statements in Burmese that translate as, “All people are living in a ready position because the battle against the military government will be restarted very soon,” and “The power mad person Than Shwe must fall before 2008.”

“Many walls and streets at the jetty, night market, cinema hall, hospital, bridges, and a crowded place called ‘Nyung Pin Gri tree’ were used by unknown persons to write against the military government,” The teacher said.

The police in Taungup, however, cleaned the graffiti soon after they received information. Police reportedly spent at least two hours scrubbing the words from the streets and walls of the town.

Additionally, a number of anti-government posters and pamphlets were hung on walls and trees around town on the same day, in order to raise awareness about possible anti-government demonstrations in the future.

The anonymous dissidents wrote that if the Burmese military government does not change anything in regard to politics in Burma before 2008, they would stage demonstrations again by sacrificing their lives.

The teacher said the police are looking for evidence and clues about the anti-junta activists in Taungup, and most of the NLD members in the town are being targeted by police after the incident.

Taungup is a small town in Arakan State, but is very much against the military junta. During the monk-led demonstrations in September, nearly a dozen protests broke out in the town and about 20 people were arrested by the military authorities. Township NLD secretary Ko Min Aung was also sentenced to nine and-a-half years in prison for his involvement in the demonstrations there.

“The unity of people in Taungup is strong, and I hope the demonstrations will surface again in Taungup if the military government doesn’t usher in democracy in 2008,” the teacher said.