The Burma Uprising of 1988

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On August 8th 1988 the Burmese military cracked down on anti-government demonstrators, killing hundreds possibly thousands of people. In the weeks of protest that followed, Aung San Suu Kyi rose to prominence. The date 8.8.88 has come to symbolise the resistance movement of the time. Ma Thida was a medical student working at Rangoon General Hospital when the dead and injured began to arrive. She has been speaking to Rebecca Kesby about treating gunshot wounds for the first time, and about her political activism and subsequent imprisonment. Photo: Demonstrators in Rangoon in 1988. Credit: Getty Images.