Protesters defiant against brutal use of military force
POLICE IN Myanmar have repeatedly used tear gas and rubber bullets against crowds protesting against last month’s coup, but the demonstrators regrouped after each volley and tried to defend themselves with barricades as stand-offs between protesters and security forces intensified.
Authorities have escalated their crackdown on the protests in recent days, making mass arrests and firing into crowds.
The United Nations said it believed at least 18 people were killed on Sunday by security forces, and foreign ministers from south-east Asian countries were meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.
Despite the crackdown, demonstrators continued to flood the streets – and are beginning to more rigorously resist attempts to disperse them.
Hundreds, many wearing construction helmets and carrying makeshift shields, gathered in Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon, where a day earlier police had fired repeated rounds of tear gas.
They dragged bamboo poles and debris to form barricades, chanted slogans and sang songs at the police lines.
The mainly young demonstrators fled each time tear gas canisters were fired but soon returned to their barricades. Videos posted on social media showed similar scenes in the Insein neighbourhood of northern Yangon.
Protesters also took up their flags and banners to march through the streets of Dawei, a small city in south-eastern Myanmar which has seen almost daily large demonstrations against the coup. Police also dispersed protests in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, yesterday. Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay were among the cities where security forces reportedly fired live ammunition into crowds on Sunday, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
The February 1 coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in Myanmar after five decades of military rule. It came the day a newly elected parliament was supposed to take office.
Ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party would have been installed for a second five-year term, but instead she was detained along with President Win Myint and other senior officials.
The military government has charged Ms Suu Kyi, 75, inset, with several minor offences designed to prevent her from participating in the election promised in a year’s time by the military.