Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors

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The Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) is an organization opposed to the ruling military junta in Burma. Considered by some a terrorist organization, in October 1999 they gained notoriety by raiding and holding hostages at the consulate of Burma in Bangkok, Thailand.

Since the thwarted 1990 elections in Burma, many former student radicals have fled the country into neighboring Thailand. In August 1999, the VBSW formed as a branch organization opposed to the strategy of peaceful protest of the All Burma Students Democratic Front. On October 1, 1999, a group of five members raided the Burmese consulate in Bangkok and took 89 people hostage. The group demanded that negotiations be opened between the National League for Democracy and the Burmese government, and that a Parliament be convened based on the results of the 1990 election. However, they soon relaxed their demands and began to let the hostages go, and the Thai government eventually allowed the VBSW members to flee by helicopter to the border with Burma.^[1]