[2][3][4] In the summer of 1988, a series of protests escalated in Yangon and other cities demanding the resignation of General Ne Win, Burma's military ruler.
[6][7] On 7 March 1989, she was arrested for the first time for distributing fliers commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Phone Maw, whose killing by security forces helped prompt the previous year's uprising.
When rising fuel and commodity prices led to widespread unrest in Yangon in August 2007, the 8888 Generation Students Group played a major role in organizing protests.
[8] The largest of these rallies drew over one hundred thousand protesters, most notably a number of Buddhist monks, giving the uprising the popular nickname "The Saffron Revolution" for the color of their robes.
[9] The New York Times described Aye as "prominent in photographs and videos of the first small demonstrations", noting that she appeared in the shots "with her fist raised".
[18] Hla Moe works in a car repair shop and in 2009 told Irrawaddy magazine that he was allowed one twenty-minute prison visit with his wife per month.