Protesters injured in clashes
MYANMAR’S police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons to quell demonstrations throughout the country yesterday, leaving two people in critical condition after anti-coup protesters defied a ban on public gatherings.
At least 20 protesters were injured after police used rubber bullets in the capital Naypyidaw during the most serious clashes, according to a network of medics supporting the protests. In the northern city of Mandalay, witnesses said security forces blasted tear gas and water cannons and detained 36 people, while police threatened to disperse large crowds that gathered in the commercial capital of Yangon.
The at-times chaotic scenes showed the military regime losing patience with a youth-led protest movement that since the weekend has seen tens of thousands of demonstrators swarm streets across the Southeast Asian nation also known as Burma.
They have used social media to quickly mobilise supporters with three main demands: the release of civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, recognition of the 2020 election results won by her party and a withdrawal of the military from politics.
The UN Myanmar expressed strong concern over the actions of police and security forces, with Ola Almgren, the UN’S resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, saying: “The use of disproportionate force against demonstrators is unacceptable.”
As the protests began dissipating yesterday, military chief Min Aung Hlaing warned civil servants not to engage in politics. He said Myanmar would work within the existing agreements for the repatriation of “displaced people” in Bangladesh – referring to the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
Some 740 000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh since 2017, in a mass exodus provoked, as UN investigators noted, by security forces practicing “ethnic cleansing” and “crimes against humanity” with “genocidal intent.”
On Monday Min Aung Hlaing defended the military takeover of the government by repeating claims of voter fraud in November’s election that have been disputed by the election commission, international observers and Suu Kyi’s party.