Anti-coup protests swell in Myanmar
Monks, nurses join nationwide protests as police fire water canon, junta issues crackdown warning
YANGON: Police turned water cannon on protesters in Myanmar’s capital on Monday as tens of thousands of people joined a third day of nationwide demonstrations against the military’s removal of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi a week ago.
As some monks and more nurses joined the protests nationwide, the junta issued a stern warning against further uprising. It has so far refrained from using deadly force to quell the demonstrations sweeping most of the country, but with pressure building, riot police fired water cannon in an attempt to disperse thousands gathered in Naypyidaw.
Calls to join protests and to back a campaign of civil disobedience have grown louder and more organised since last Monday’s coup, which drew widespread international condemnation. “We health workers are leading this campaign to urge all government staff to join,” Aye Misan, a nurse at a government hospital said at a protest in the biggest city of Yangon.
“Our message to the public is that we aim to completely abolish this military regime and we have to fight for our destiny.”
Police in the capital Naypyidaw
fired brief bursts from a water cannon at a group of the protesters, video showed.
Thousands also marched in the southeastern city of Dawei and in the Kachin state capital in the far north, the massive crowds reflecting a rejection of military rule by diverse ethnic groups, even those who have been critical of Suu Kyi and accused her government of neglecting minorities.
In Yangon, a group of saffronrobed monks, who have a history of rallying community action in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country, marched in the vanguard of protests with workers and students. They flew multicoloured Buddhist flags alongside red banners in the colour of Suu Kyi’s National league for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide election in November.
“Release Our Leaders, Respect Our Votes, Reject Military Coup,” said one sign. Other read “Save democracy” and “Say No to Dictatorship.”
Weekend protests were the biggest since the “Saffron Revolution” led by monks in 2007, which led over subsequent years to the military’s gradual withdrawal from civilian politics after decades of direct rule, a process brought to a jarring halt by the February 1 coup.
Gatherings have been good natured and largely peaceful, unlike bloody crackdowns on previous protests, in 1988 and 2007 in particular. A convoy of military trucks was arriving in Yangon late on Sunday, raising fears that could change.
In a development likely to worry the military, some government workers have been seen joining doctors and some teachers in rallying to the call for a campaign of civil disobedience and strikes.
“We request government staff from all departments not to
attend work from Monday,” said activist Min Ko Naing, a veteran of the 1988 demonstrations that brought Suu Kyi to prominence.
The government lifted a daylong internet ban at the weekend. The block prompted even more anger in a country fearful of returning to the isolation and dire poverty before the transition to democracy began in 2011.
“Everyone uses social media and we copy what we see,” said Paing Soe Win, 26, at a protest in Yangon where people have been brandishing the three-finger “Hunger Games” salute, a symbol of defiance adopted from the Hollywood movie and
copied around the region.
“Young people aren’t scared because we’ve seen protests in Hong Kong and Thailand on social media. We’re familiar with it, it’s not new.”
In the face of an increasingly bold wave of defiance, state broadcaster MRTV warned that opposition to the junta was unlawful and signalled a potential crackdown.
“Action must be taken according to the law with effective steps against offences which disturb, prevent and destroy the state’s stability, public safety and the rule of law,” said a statement read by an
announcer on the channel.
Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy and spent nearly 15 years under house as she struggled to end almost half a century of army rule.
The 75-year-old has been kept incommunicado since army chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power in the early hours of February 1 to counter what the military said was widespread fraud in the November 8 election. The election commission has rejected complaints of fraud. Suu Kyi faces charges of illegally importing six walkietalkies.