Shops owned by military go up in flames in new Myanmar protests

PROTESTERS yesterday marked two months since the military seized power in Myanmar by again defying lethal violence and demonstrating.

The February 1 coup has been met with massive public resistance that security forces have been unable to crush through escalating levels of violence, including now routinely shooting protesters.

Outside efforts including sanctions by Western nations on the military regime have failed to restore peace.

Yesterday in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, a group of young people sang solemn songs at sunrise honouring the morethan 500 protesters killed so far. They then marched through the streets, chanting slogans calling for the fall of the junta, the release of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of democracy.

Protests were also held in Mandalay and elsewhere. The demonstrations followed a night of violence including police raids and several fires. In Yangon, several shops owned by Myanma Economic Holdings – an investment arm of the military – went up in flames.

The crisis has expanded sharply in the past week, both in the number of protesters killed and with the military launching air strikes against the guerrilla forces of the Karen ethnic minority in their homeland on the border with Thailand.

The UN special envoy for Myanmar warned that the country faces the possibility of slipping into civil war.

Christine Schraner Burgener also urged the UN Security Council to consider “potentially significant action” to restore democracy.

Ms Burgener did not specify what action she considered significant but painted a dire picture of the military crackdown and told the council in a closed briefing that Myanmar “is on the verge of spiralling into a failed state”.