Ethnic minorities join protest of Myanmar coup
YANGON, Myanmar — Members of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities marched through streets in traditional dress and floated on wooden long boats in a scenic lake Thursday to protest last week’s coup, a sign of the broad and growing resistance to the military takeover.
The military seized power on Feb. 1, ousting leader Aung San Suu Kyi and preventing recently elected lawmakers from opening a new session of Parliament — a shocking reversal after about a decade of progress toward democracy in Myanmar. The junta said it was forced to step in because Suu Kyi’s government failed to properly investigate allegations of fraud in recent elections, though the election commission has said there is no evidence to support those claims.
In response to the coup, tens of thousands of protesters have marched daily in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s biggest cities — and the demonstrations have spread throughout the country. The rallies have drawn people from all walks of life, despite an official ban on gatherings of more than five people. Factory workers and civil servants, students and teachers, medical personnel and people from LGBTQ communities, Buddhist monks and Catholic clergy have all come out in force.
On Thursday, people from Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups, who are concentrated in far-flung, border states, joined in.
“Our people have been oppressed by the junta for many years. They have cracked down brutally. How long are they going to keep doing this?” asked protester Naw Ohn Hla, a human rights activist from the Karen ethnic group, at a demonstration in Yangon. “But the people understand the situation, and most of them are joining now.”
In Myanmar’s eastern Shan State, home to the country’s largest ethnic minority group, scores of wooden long boats used for fishing and transportation on scenic Inle Lake hosted a unique floating protest, with passengers holding placards denouncing the coup and calling for justice. Some protesters squeezed messages lengthwise onto oars, including “Respect Our Votes” and “Say No to Coup.”
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who now heads the ruling junta, indirectly acknowledged the widespread opposition to his government in a televised speech Thursday.
He also touched on the issue of civil servants joining the protests. “Due to unscrupulous persons’ incitement, some civil service personnel have failed to perform their duties at present,“he said. “Those who are away from their duties are requested to return to their duties immediately for the interests of the country and people without focusing on the emotion.”
About 220 politicians and activists have been arrested since the coup, according to the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
More senior members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, along with other politicians and activists, were arrested Wednesday night.