Tension high in Burma
Police occupy hospitals, universities as protests persist.
RANGOON, Burma — Burma careened deeper into crisis Sunday as police occupied hospitals and universities and reportedly arrested hundreds of people involved in protesting last month’s military seizure of power, while a coalition of labor unions called a strike for today.
Tension was high in the country’s biggest city, Rangoon, where for a second night gunshots from heavy weapons rang out randomly in the streets of several neighborhoods after the start of an 8 p.m. curfew. The sounds of what apparently were stun grenades could also be heard on videos posted on social media.
Security forces’ use of such weapons when protesters had left the streets appeared to be part of a strategy to strike fear in anyone who might think about defying the authorities. In a similar vein, there were many filmed incidents of police and soldiers beating protesters they had taken into custody.
Some of the shooting was heard near hospitals, where reports said neighborhood residents sought to block the entry of police and soldiers.
Security forces have often targeted medical personnel and facilities, attacking ambulances and their crews. Large protests have occurred daily across many cities and towns in Burma, and security forces have responded with the use of lethal force and mass arrests. At least 18 protesters were shot and killed Feb. 28 and 38 were killed on Wednesday, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. More than 1,500 people have been arrested, the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.
Protests in various cities and towns Sunday were again met by police firing warning shots and employing tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades.
Burmese labor unions, meanwhile, issued a joint call for a nationwide work stoppage beginning today, with the goal of a “full, extended shutdown of the Myanmar economy.”
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that ruling military authorities adopted in 1989. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other regime opponents have refused to adopt the name change, as have the U.S. and Britain.
“To continue the economic and business activities as usual, and to delay a general work-stoppage, will only benefit the military as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people,” said the appeal, issued Sunday night.
The statement called for the strike to continue “until we receive our democracy back.”
Workers in several industries have joined the protest movement, most notably from the state railway and the banking sector.
Factory workers, mostly in the Rangoon area, are largely involved in the garment industry, which generates major export earnings for Burma. The workers have occasionally participated in the campaign against the junta but are unable to do so regularly for fear of losing their modest incomes.
Advocates of sanctions against the junta have avoided calling for comprehensive trade sanctions out of fear they would hurt the general populace. Instead they have called for, and enacted, targeted sanctions aimed at hurting the military’s leadership and military-linked companies.
Earlier Sunday, police in Burma’s ancient former capital, Bagan, opened fire on demonstrators protesting the Feb. 1 coup, wounding several people, according to witness accounts and videos on social media.
At least five people were reported hurt as police sought to break up the protest, and photos showed a young man with bloody wounds on his chin and neck, believed to have been caused by a rubber bullet. Bullet casings collected at the scene indicated that live rounds were also fired.
Multiple reports from Rangoon said there had been police raids Saturday night to seize organizers and supporters of the protest movement. A ward chairman from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party was found dead in a military hospital Sunday morning, according to a post on Facebook by party lawmaker Sithu Maung.