Medics first to protest
Myanmar has started to see some protests emerge, with doctors vowing to shut hospitals across the country. A “Civil Disobedience Movement” started by pro-democracy activists including medical professionals announced on Wednesday that more than 70 hospitals and medical departments would stop work in protest of what it called an “illegitimate” government.
The army has “ruthlessly” staged a coup and is “putting their own interests above our vulnerable population who have been facing medical, economic, and social hardships during this global pandemic”, reads a statement posted to the Civil Disobedience Movement’s Facebook page, which has gained more than 160,000 followers since it was started on Tuesday.
Another campaign initiated by lawmakers saw residents in Myanmar’s commercial capital,
Yangon, bang pots and honk car horns on Tuesday evening to show their opposition to the coup. Thousands of Burmese demonstrators gathered outside Japan’s foreign affairs ministry demanding Tokyo join its allies in taking a harder stance against the coup in Myanmar.
China, along with Russia, reportedly blocked efforts by the UNSC at its consultative meeting on Tuesday to issue a strong statement condemning the coup.
The Group of Seven countries on Wednesday condemned the coup and said it was deeply concerned about the fate of detained political leaders.
“We call upon the military to immediately end the state of emergency, restore power to the democratically-elected government, to release all those unjustly detained and to respect human rights and the rule of law,” the G7 said.