Police fire rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters
Police in Myanmar repeatedly used tear gas and rubber bullets Tuesday against crowds protesting last month’s coup, but the demonstrators regrouped after each volley and tried to defend themselves with barricades as standoffs between protesters and security forces intensified.
Authorities have escalated their crackdown on the protests in recent days. The United Nations said it believed at least 18 people were killed on Sunday when security forces fired into crowds, while a rights group said more than 1,000 people were detained over the weekend, including an Associated Press journalist. A lawyer for the journalist said he has been charged with an offense that could see him imprisoned for up to three years.
Protests continue
Despite the increasingly brutal crackdown, demonstrators have 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. They even threw banana skins onto the road in front of them in a bid to slow any police rush.
The mainly young demonstrators fled in panic each time tear gas canisters were fired but soon returned to their barricades. Videos posted on social media showed similar chaotic scenes in the Insein neighborhood of northern Yangon.
Protesters also took up their flags and banners to march through the streets of Dawei, a small city in southeastern Myanmar that has seen almost daily large demonstrations against the coup. One group of demonstrators was targeted by the security forces as it entered a narrow street on its way to pay respects at the house of a man killed in Sunday’s crackdown. Another was attacked on the main street in the city’s center.
Action in other cities
Police also dispersed protests in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, on Tuesday.
Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay were among the cities where security forces reportedly fired live ammunition into crowds Sunday, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. There were reports that they also fired live rounds Tuesday, but they could not immediately be confirmed.
Some fear the junta’s escalating use of force is meant to provoke a violent backlash by the demonstrators — who have largely remained nonviolent — in order to discredit them and justify an even harsher crackdown. Videos from recent days show a greater number of protesters trying to stand their ground and throw objects at the police.
Every now and then I get a craving for shredded, fall-apart, barbecued-flavored meat, but I can’t eat pork and I don’t always want chicken. Life has gotten so much easier once I found jackfruit.
It shreds like meat, it tastes like meat, and everything you can do to shredded meat you can do to it.
Jackfruit has this wonderful little quality where it soaks up the flavor of whatever you cook it in.
But be careful, because it is unforgiving. If your seasoning is off, the jackfruit will telegraph it across your plate.
The next time the craving for a barbecue sandwich hit, I pulled out a can of jackfruit and went digging through my spices.
I was not disappointed with this dish.
The flavor is spot on, but the texture doesn’t have the same chewiness that chicken or pork does. If serving this as a sandwich I recommend toasting your bread first so that you have different textures. I topped my sandwich with coleslaw, but this jackfruit would also be really good on a toasted bun with a dollop of mayo and a couple of pickle chips, or even just served over rice.
This recipe could be adapted to be vegan by leaving out the beef bouillon and using vegan barbecue sauce.
Barbecue jackfruit sandwiches
Ingredients:
• 1 can jackfruit, drained
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1⁄2 tablespoon paprika
• 1⁄2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black garlic salt
• 1 avocado leaf
• 1 cube of beef bouillon
• 1 can of water
• 1⁄2 cup barbecue sauce
DIRECTIONS >> Heat oil in large pan and bloom cumin and paprika. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic. Add jackfruit, garlic salt, beef bouillon and 1 can of water. Toast avocado leaf until fragrant, then add to pan. Bring to boil, then lower to simmer. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Remove avocado leaf, then break apart chunks of jackfruit until it resembles shredded meat. Add barbecue sauce and cook on low for 15 minutes. Allow to cool a little, then serve on a toasted bun with either coleslaw or sliced pickles.