Myanmar coup supporters attack protesters

YANGON: Some armed with knives and clubs, others firing slingshots, supporters of Myanmar’s military attacked opponents of the coup in downtown Yangon yesterday.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power on February 1 and detained civilian government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership.

There have been about three weeks of daily protests, and students planned to come out again in the commercial hub of Yangon yesterday.

But before many opponents of the coup gathered, about 1000 supporters of the military turned up for a rally in central Yangon.

Some of them threatened news photographers and media workers, witnesses said, and scuffles escalated into more serious violence in several parts of the city.

Some military supporters were photographed with clubs and knives, some threw stones and fired catapults, witnesses said, and several people were beaten.

Video showed several apparent supporters of the military, one wielding a knife, attacking a man outside a hotel.

Emergency workers helped the man as he lay on the pavement after his attackers moved off, but his condition was not known.

‘‘Today’s events show who the terrorists are. They’re afraid of the people’s action for democracy,’’ activist Thin Zar Shun Lei Yi said.

Meanwhile, Facebook said that due to the risks evident from the ‘‘deadly violence’’ seen since the coup, it had banned the Myanmar military from using its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The spokesman for the ruling military council did not respond to a request for comment.

A rights group said as of yesterday, 728 people had been arrested, charged or sentenced in relation to the prodemocracy protests.