BBC News with Gaenor Howells
The Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has addressed thousands of cheering supporters after her release from house arrest in Rangoon by the military government. The excited crowd
surge
d forward when Ms Suu Kyi emerged from the home, where she has been
confine
d for the past seven years. Our correspondent Adam Mynott was at the scene.
It was a moment of
delirious
excitement for thousands who rushed to Aung San Suu Kyi's home as word rippled through Rangoon that she was to be released. The
diminutive
65-year-old democracy campaigner
climbed up
steps behind the gate of her compound, and the crowd went mad with joy. For 20 minutes, she tried in vain to quieten her delirious followers, and she spoke in measured tones. "I will have more to say tomorrow," she says, "but unity can only come when we work together to achieve our goals."
Many in the crowd
held up
cameras and mobile phones to record Aung San Suu Kyi speak.
"When I heard the voice, I couldn't stop. I just ran here and then witnessed this
amazing
woman, like (a) dream come true to meet such an extraordinary woman."
"Now I'm very happy and very, very deeply emotion(emotional)."
"She will be leading our people, strongly."
Lawyers for Aung San Suu Kyi say no restrictions have been placed on her movements or political activities as a condition of her release. She won the last free elections in Burma in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern. But just how free she'll be to lead her political party is not yet clear, as John Simpson reports from Burma.