Foreign secretary praises Myanmar activists

The people of Myanmar are demonstrating “huge bravery” in the face of violence from the military regime, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said.

Protesters returned to the streets yesterday despite reports security forces had killed at least 18 people around the country the previous day.

Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won a landslide in last year’s election before she was ousted by the junta, appeared in court via video link to face what the foreign secretary called “politically-motivated charges”.

She has already been charged with possession of unregistered walkietalkies and breaking Covid-19 restrictions, and reportedly received a further charge for allegedly inciting unrest.

Mr Raab called on the generals to release all those “detained arbitrarily” since they seized power.

The foreign secretary said: “One month on and the military in Myanmar continues to escalate its use of violence to support its coup, including the killing of peaceful protesters over the weekend.

“The people of Myanmar want their voices heard and are showing huge bravery in response to this brutality.

“Today, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s elected leader, again faced politically-motivated charges.

“The international community must do everything it can to bring pressure to bear to halt the violence, release those detained arbitrarily and restore the elected government.”

The military coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar after five decades of military rule.