Protests mark 1st anniversary of coup
YANGON: Streets in Myanmar’s main cities were nearly deserted on Tuesday as opponents of military rule held “silent strikes” on the first anniversary of a coup that led to deadly chaos and snuffed out tentative steps towards democracy.
The US, Britain and Canada imposed new sanctions on the military and joined other countries in calling for a global halt in arms sales to Myanmar, a year after Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government was overthrown.
Since its bloody suppression of protests in the weeks following the coup, the military has faced armed resistance on multiple fronts in the countryside from groups allied with the ousted government.
On Tuesday, an explosion took placed during a procession of military supporters in the eastern border town of Tachileik, two witnesses told Reuters. The blast killed two people, said one of the witnesses, and wounded more than 30 others. State media on Tuesday said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing extended a state of emergency for a further six months to address threats from “internal and external saboteurs” and “terrorist attacks and destruction”.
Images on social media showed quiet streets in various cities including Mandalay, Magway, Myitkyina and Yangon, where pictures on a page put up by strike organisers later showed a small protest at which people threw red paint on the ground.
There were also pro-junta events in several locations, including the capital, Naypyitaw, where thousands attended a rally, some dancing and holding aloft photographs of Min Aung Hlaing, with banners wishing him good health.