Danish group puts Myanmar's on sale

BANGKOK: Danish street artists are trying to help anti-government protesters in Myanmar by auctioning off the nation's junta leader Than Shwe on eBay, they said on Friday.   

"General for sale," reads the ad by Jan Egesborg's art group Surrend, with the starting bid at one million dollars.   

"We know that former generals can be cumbersome to handle," it says, alongside a picture of the junta chief.   

"They are often very overweight after many years in power, and they always wear military outfits. That is certainly the case with Than Shwe, whom we are offering for sale to the highest bidder," it reads.   

"Due to his hot and unpredictable temper, we recommend that the new owner chains him after the end of the working day," says the ad, warning, "Be prepared for plate throwing if he hears the word 'monk'!"   

Egesborg and his partner Pia Bertelsen enraged the junta in July, when they placed an ad in a local newspaper with a secret message that called for freedom and branded Than Shwe a killer.   

Egesborg said he decided to place the eBay ad "because of these shocking events."   

At least 13 people have been killed in a two-day crackdown on anti-government protesters, with hundreds more thrown behind bars, including many Buddhist monks who have spearheaded the movement.   

The bloodshed triggered international condemnation of the country's ruling generals, who unleashed security forces on demonstrators to put down the biggest wave of public dissent in the Southeast Asian nation for 20 years.