Protests persist; Suu Kyi in court tomorrow
YANGON: Protesters in Myanmar kept up demands yesterday for the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an end to military rule, undaunted by the deployment of armoured vehicles and tougher laws aimed at cowing dissent.
Suu Kyi, detained since the February 1 coup against her elected government, had been expected to face a court yesterday in connection with charges of illegally importing six walkietalkie radios, but a judge said her remand lasted until tomorrow, her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said.
The coup and the arrest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi and others have sparked Myanmar’s biggest protests in more than a decade, hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to denounce the derailment of the country’s tentative transition to democracy.
The unrest has revived memories of bloody outbreaks of opposition to almost half a century of direct army rule over the nation, which ended in 2011.
Violence this time has been limited, but yesterday, police opened fire to disperse protesters at a power plant in northern Myanmar. It was unclear if they were using rubber bullets or live rounds and there was no word on casualties.
More than a dozen police trucks with four water cannon vehicles were deployed yesterday near the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon, which has been one of the main demonstration sites in the commercial capital, as groups of protesters gathered.
An armoured vehicle and about six trucks carrying soldiers were parked nearby, a witness said.
Armoured vehicles were also deployed in the northern town of Myitkyina and Sittwe in the west, the first largescale use of such vehicles since the coup.
On Sunday, the military published penal code amendments aimed at stifling dissent, setting out a 20year prison term for inciting hatred of the Government or military or hindering the security forces engaged in preserving state stability.
Western embassies — from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and 11 other nations — yesterday issued a statement calling on security forces to ‘‘refrain from violence against demonstrators and civilians, who are protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government’’.