Myanmar Junta Says to Free 1,600 Prisoners in New Year Amnesty

Sunday, 17 April, 2022

Myanmar's junta said it will release more than 1,600 prisoners from jails across the country on Sunday to mark the Buddhist new year, without specifying whether those being pardoned were protesters or common criminals.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government was ousted last year in a military coup, which sparked huge protests and a deadly crackdown, AFP reported.

State television announced that 1,619 prisoners, including 42 foreigners had been "pardoned" and will be released to mark the new year.

It was unclear whether anti-junta protesters or journalists jailed for covering the coup will be among those freed.

On Sunday morning, more than 100 people gathered outside Yangon's Insein prison hoping to be reunited with loved ones, AFP correspondents said.

Among them was a woman waiting for her 19-year-old nephew, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for incitement against the military.

"He was young, and he may have some feeling to fight," she said, declining to give her name.

"I wish all young children will be released including my nephew. They all were innocent."

Another woman waiting outside the prison said she was hopeful that her uncle -- sentenced to three years in prison in March because of his political activism -- would be released.

"I came here as I expected that he would be among other prisoners who got amnesty," she said.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had received a letter from her uncle in prison, reassuring her he was well.

- Australian academic -

There was no mention of the Australian economist Sean Turnell, a former Suu Kyi advisor who was arrested shortly after the coup.

He is currently on trial for allegedly breaching the official secrets act, which carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence.

The exact details of his alleged offence have not been made public, though state television has said he had access to "secret state financial information" and had tried to flee Myanmar.

Human rights groups have raised concerns about his prosecution, particularly after the Australian embassy was denied access to his court hearing in September.

Myanmar typically grants an annual amnesty to thousands of prisoners to mark the Buddhist New Year, usually a joyous holiday celebrated in many parts with water fights.

But this year, with the bloody military crackdown on dissent, the streets in many major cities have been silent as people protest junta rule.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3596251/myanmar-junta-says-free-1600-prisoners-new-year-amnesty.

China, Russia arming Myanmar junta: UN rights expert

By Nina Larson

Geneva (AFP)

Feb 22, 2022

UN Security Council members China and Russia, as well as Serbia have continued supplying Myanmar's junta with weapons used to attack civilians since last year's coup, a UN rights expert said Tuesday.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged the Security Council to convene an emergency session "to debate and vote on a resolution to, at a minimum, ban those arms transfers that the Myanmar military are known to use to attack and kill Myanmar civilians."

He released a long-awaited report Tuesday detailing where the junta is getting its weapons from, highlighting that two permanent members of the Security Council itself, who hold veto power over its decisions, remain among the main suppliers.

"Despite the evidence of the military junta's atrocity crimes being committed with impunity since launching a coup last year, UN Security Council members Russia and China continue to provide the Myanmar military junta with numerous fighter jets, armored vehicles, and in the case of Russia, the promise of further arms," Andrews said in a statement.

"During this same period, Serbia has authorized rockets and artillery for export to the Myanmar military," said Andrews, who is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, but who does not speak on behalf of the world body.

- 'Crimes against humanity' -

In his report, he maintained that the arms transfers by the three countries had "occurred with the full knowledge that they would be used to attack civilians, in probable violation of international law."

Myanmar has been in chaos, its economy paralyzed, and more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in a military crackdown since the putsch in February 2021, according to the UN.

Since the February 1, 2021 coup, at least 12,000 people have been detained, including the de facto head of the civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi, while more than 440,000 people have been forcibly displaced.

Andrews reiterated in his report that "there is strong evidence the junta has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity," including murder, sexual violence and torture.

"The situation of human rights in Myanmar is dire and deteriorating," it said.

The report provides an overview of countries that have authorized the transfer of weapons to Myanmar since 2018, when the military's attacks on the Rohingya ethnic minority were widely documented and after a UN fact-finding mission had urged an arms embargo.

Israel, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Belarus and Ukraine also figure on that list, although only China, Russia and Serbia have continued their transfers since the coup.

- 'Imperative' -

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution last June calling for countries to prevent the flow of arms to Myanmar, but Andrews said that it had failed to have "any discernible impact on the crisis and the capacity of the junta to launch attacks on civilians."

He pointed out that while none of the Security Council members had voted against that resolution, the council had also not even considered voting to make the text binding for member states.

"It is imperative that member states and the Security Council act urgently to stop weapons sales to the military junta. Human lives, and Security Council credibility, are on the line," he said.

The report acknowledges that China and Russia might very well use their veto power to block any such text, but stressed that this "should not deter other members from placing a resolution before the Council for consideration, debate and a vote."

"The people of Myanmar deserve to have a strong resolution."

"The Security Council should consider, at the very least, a resolution to ban weapons that are being used by the Myanmar military to kill innocent people," Andrews said.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_Russia_arming_Myanmar_junta_UN_rights_expert_999.html.

UN says over 3 million in Myanmar need "life-saving" aid

November 09, 2021

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian chief urged Myanmar’s military leaders on Monday to provide unimpeded access to the more than 3 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance since government forces seized power on Feb. 1 “because of growing conflict and insecurity, COVID-19 and a failing economy.”

Martin Griffiths warned that without an end to violence and a peaceful resolution of Myanmar’s crisis, “this number will only rise.” He also urged donors to respond to the U.N. appeal, saying less than half of the $385 million required has been raised since the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Monday was the first anniversary of the 2020 elections in Myanmar, which “were deemed free and fair by domestic and international observers,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. They were won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party with approximately 80% of the elected seats in the upper and lower houses of Parliament. The military rejects the results, claiming the vote was fraudulent.

“The United Nations reiterates its call on the military to respect the will of the people and put the country back on track to democratic transition,” Dujarric said, stressing that the U.N. remains “gravely concerned about the intensifying violence in Myanmar” and again urges unimpeded humanitarian access.

Griffiths’ statement was issued as members of the U.N. Security Council held a closed-door meeting on Myanmar requested by the United Kingdom. Diplomats said Russia and China objected to a proposed press statement that would express concern at recent violence including air strikes and reaffirm the council's support for the country's democratic transition, but discussions were continuing.

UK deputy ambassador James Kariuki told reporters before heading into the meeting that Britain is particularly concerned about the buildup of military action in northwest Chin state, “and we are concerned that this rather mirrors the activity we saw four years ago ahead of the atrocities that were committed in Rakhine against the Rohingya” Muslim minority.

“So, we’re very keen to make sure the council is focused, and the military know that we’re watching,” he said. Since Suu Kyi’s ouster, Myanmar has been wracked by unrest, with peaceful demonstrations against the ruling generals morphing first into a low-level insurgency in many urban areas after security forces used deadly force and then into more serious combat in rural areas, especially in border regions where ethnic minority militias have been engaging in heavy clashes with government troops.

On Sept. 7, the National Unity Government, the main underground group coordinating resistance to the military which was established by elected legislators who had been barred from taking their seats when the military seized power, called for a nationwide uprising. Its “People’s Defense Forces” operate in many areas and have received training and weapons from some armed ethnic groups.

Christine Schraner Burgener told The Associated Press shortly before her 3 ½ year term as the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar ended on Oct. 31 that “civil war” has spread throughout the country. She said the U.N. has heard that many soldiers are on the ground conducting “clearing operations” in Chin state, and reminded the world that the military’s “clearing operation” in Rakhine state in 2017 saw villages burned down, widespread rapes and more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

Griffiths also called the situation in the northwest “extremely concerning, with an escalation in hostilities between the Myanmar Armed Forces and the Chinland Defense Force in Chin state, and with the People’s Defense Forces in Magway and Sagaing regions.”

“More than 37,000 people, including women and children, have been newly displaced, and more than 160 homes have been burned, including churches and the offices of a humanitarian organization,” Griffiths said. “Attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian workers and facilities, are clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law and must stop immediately.”

Since Feb. 1, he said, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes due to violence across the country, and 223,000 people remain internally displaced. “This includes 165,000 in the southeast of the country and is on top of a significant population of people who were already displaced in Rakhine, Chin, Shan and Kachin states prior to the takeover,” Griffiths said. He noted that 144,000 Rohingya people are still confined to camps or living in camp-like settings in Rakhine, many since their displacement in 2012, and more than 105,000 people have been displaced in Kachin and Shan, many for years.

The U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said he is also “increasingly concerned about reports of rising levels of food insecurity in and around urban areas, including in Yangon and Mandalay.”

Myanmar anti-coup resistance drags military into bloody stalemate

Hong Kong (AFP)

Oct 1, 2021

Corpses piled high next to a rice field in northern Myanmar show the bloody consequence of a hot-blooded, uncoordinated attack by villagers on battle-hardened junta troops.

Eight months after deposing Aung San Suu Kyi's government, Myanmar's military regime finds itself mired in a bloody stalemate, unable to crush fighters resisting its rule who are themselves not strong enough to topple a powerful army.

"We need to be wise with our timing and plan," a member of the local "People's Defense Force" told AFP after the September 25 clash in the small northwestern village of Gone Nyin.

Similar clashes between anti-coup militias and junta troops have escalated in recent weeks, along with bomb blasts and targeted killings of those suspected of collaborating with the regime, leading to bloody reprisals on both sides.

Local media last week reported a whole family -- including a 12-year-old child -- had been shot dead for allegedly helping troops during a search for protesters.

Dissidents have also attacked and disabled cell towers belonging to a military-owned company to deprive the junta of revenue.

A parallel government made up largely of lawmakers from Suu Kyi's party has also sought to fan the flames, calling for a "defensive war" against junta troops and assets.

- Shelling -

Villagers have accused soldiers of torching their homes and massacring their neighbors in acts of vengeance directed at those resisting military rule.

Almost the entire population of the western town of Thantlang fled after troops fired artillery shells following clashes with anti-junta fighters last month, a 50-year-old resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Terrified inhabitants had used buckets of water to fight a blaze that started after a shell hit a house and threatened to consume others in the neighborhood, he said.

The fire service was not working because the wife of the head of the fire department was hit by a shell fragment during the fighting, he said, with the tide turning thanks to a sudden change in the weather.

"Due to the help of God, it rained that day," he said.

Many made the arduous journey across rivers and hills to cross into India for the relative safety of a refugee camp.

On the other side of the country, villagers in eastern Kayah state also fled army shelling after clashes earlier this week, according to a local anti-junta militia.

More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and some 8,000 arrested since the coup, according to local observers.

The junta says the death toll is much lower and denies its troops have committed massacres and torched homes.

- 'Crush dissent' -

The military has ramped up violence to "crush dissent and prevent the resistance movement from gaining any ground" after the NUG's call to arms, Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch told AFP.

As fighting rages, democracy icon Suu Kyi, 76, is all but absent from the scene, with contact with the outside world limited to meetings with her lawyers ahead of hearings in her trial in a junta court.

Non-violence is a core principle of Suu Kyi's and was a defining characteristic of the democracy movement she led against a previous junta decades ago.

But many in Myanmar now believe violent tactics are the only way to root out military dominance of the country's politics and economy.

"Much of the population is determined to prevent a return to military rule, at the cost of their lives if necessary," said Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.

"The stage is set for an extended violent stalemate."

For those caught in Sagaing, which has seen some of the most intense recent clashes, there is no end in sight.

Farmers "cannot grow food on their farms," a Buddhist monk from Kani village, upstream from Gone Nyin, told AFP.

"They have to run and hide often," said the monk, who wished to remain anonymous.

"They are exhausted. But they do not like the army."

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Myanmar_anti-coup_resistance_drags_military_into_bloody_stalemate_999.html.

'Urgent' international response needed in Myanmar after coup: UN

United Nations, United States (AFP)

Sept 29, 2021

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an "urgent" international response to the political crisis created in Myanmar by the February 1 military coup, in a new report released by the United Nations on Wednesday.

In the document on "the situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar," the UN chief also said he feared that the military's grip on power would become increasingly difficult to counter.

"It is urgent to mount a unified international and regional response to help to put Myanmar back on the path to democratic reform," he said in the document dated August 31.

No explanation was given by the UN for the long delay in its publication.

The text was approved by 119 countries, with 36 including China abstaining and one, Belarus, voting against.

The international effort "must be accompanied by the immediate release of President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other government officials," Guterres said in his report.

There must also be "immediate humanitarian access and assistance, especially to vulnerable communities, among them the Rohingya Muslims, many of whom are living in exile in Bangladesh and elsewhere," he added.

"The opportunity to prevent the military from entrenching its rule could be narrowing," and it is important to support "the democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar," Guterres continued.

Myanmar has been in the grip of unrest since the coup on February 1.

The military has launched a bloody crackdown on opponents, with more than 1,100 civilians killed and 8,400 imprisoned, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

At the UN, Myanmar's ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who was appointed by the former civilian leader Suu Kyi, has retained his country's seat, defying the junta to do so.

He is an outspoken supporter of democracy and supported by the international community. In May, the junta appointed a former general to replace him, but the United Nations has not yet approved the appointment.

He had not spoken by the time the UN's annual General Assembly closed on Monday.

The withdrawal of his appearance came after a high-level UN diplomat told AFP that an agreement had also been reached between the United States, Russia and China preventing him from doing so.

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Urgent_international_response_needed_in_Myanmar_after_coup_UN_999.html.

Reports: Myanmar forces kill 82 in single day in city

April 11, 2021

YANGON (AP) — At least 82 people were killed in one day in a crackdown by Myanmar security forces on pro-democracy protesters, according to reports Saturday from independent local media and an organization that keeps track of casualties since the February coup.

Friday’s death toll in Bago was the biggest one-day total for a single city since March 14, when just over 100 people were killed in Yangon, the country’s biggest city. Bago is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Yangon. The Associated Press is unable to independently verify the number of deaths.

The death toll of 82 was a preliminary one compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which issues daily counts of casualties and arrests from the crackdown in the aftermath of the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Their tallies are widely accepted as highly credible because cases are not added until they have been confirmed, with the details published on their website. In its Saturday report, the group said that it expected the number of dead in Bago to rise as more cases were verified.

The online news site Myanmar Now also reported that 82 people had been killed, citing an unnamed source involved with charity rescue work. Myanmar Now and other local media said the bodies had been collected by the military and dumped on the grounds of a Buddhist pagoda.

At least 701 protesters and bystanders have been killed by security forces since the army’s takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The attack on Bago was the third in the past week involving the massive use of force to try to crush the persistent opposition to the ruling junta.

Attacks were launched Wednesday on hardcore opponents of military rule who had set up strongholds in the towns of Kalay and Taze in the country’s north. In both places, at least 11 people -- possibly including some bystanders -- were reported killed.

The security forces were accused of using heavy weapons in their attacks, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, though such allegations could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press. Photos posted on social media from Bago appeared to show fragments of mortar shells.

Most protests in cities and town around the country are carried out by nonviolent demonstrators who consider themselves part of a civil disobedience movement. But as the police and military escalated the use of lethal force, a hardcore faction of protesters armed themselves with homemade weapons such as firebombs in the name of self-defense. In Kalay, activists dubbed themselves a “civil army” and some equipped themselves with rudimentary hunting rifles that are traditional in the remote area.

A report by Myanmar Now said residents of Tamu, a town in the same region as Kalay, used hunting rifles Saturday to ambush a military convoy, and claimed to kill three soldiers. The junta has taken other measures as well to discourage resistance. It recently published a wanted list of 140 people active in the arts and journalism charged with spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law. The penalty for the offense is up to three years’ imprisonment. Arrests of those on the list have been highly publicized in state media.

State television channel MRTV reported Friday night that a military court had sentenced to death 19 people -- 17 in absentia -- for allegedly killing an army officer in Yangon on March 27. The attack took place in an area of the city that is under martial law, and the court action appeared to be the first time the death sentence has been imposed under the junta’s rule.

The U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, arrived Friday in the Thai capital Bangkok on a regional mission to resolve the crisis in Myanmar. She intends to sound out several Southeast Asian governments for their ideas but has been denied permission to visit Myanmar.

Myanmar forces arrest comedian, break up doctors' protest

April 06, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Authorities in Myanmar arrested the country’s best-known comedian on Tuesday as they continue to crack down on people they accuse of helping incite nationwide protests against February's military coup.

The comedian Zarganar was taken from his home in Yangon by police and soldiers who arrived in two army vehicles, fellow comedian Ngepyawkyaw said on his own Facebook page. Zarganar, 60, is a sharp-tongued satirist who has been in and out of prison since he was active in a failed 1988 popular uprising against a previous military dictatorship. He is also well known for his social work, especially arranging assistance for victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

In the past week, the junta has issued arrest warrants for at least 60 people active in the fields of literature, film, theater arts, music and journalism on charges of spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law. It was not immediately clear what Zarganar, whose real name is Maung Thura, has been charged with.

Many ordinary protesters and activists are also being arrested every day, according to numerous reports on social media. In Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, security forces used stun grenades and fired guns Tuesday to break up a march by medical workers who have defiantly continued to protest almost every day against the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The army's takeover set back Myanmar’s gradual return to democracy after five decades of military rule.

A participant who asked to remain anonymous for his own safety told The Associated Press that doctors, nurses and medical students were attacked as they gathered at about 5 a.m. by security forces who also used cars to run into protesters on motorbikes. The online news site The Irrawaddy reported that four doctors were arrested.

At least 570 protesters and bystanders, including 47 children, have been killed in the crackdown since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests. The group says 2,728 people, including Suu Kyi, are in detention.

Activists have begun organizing a boycott of next week’s official celebration of Thingyan, the country’s traditional New Year, usually a time for family reunions and merry-making. In leaflets and social media posts, they are imploring people not to hold any Thingyan celebrations, saying it would be disrespectful to “fallen martyrs” to enjoy the festival.

The leaders of Brunei and Malaysia announced Monday that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet to discuss the situation in Myanmar. No date was given in the announcement, issued during a visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to Brunei. He and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said they “expressed serious concern on the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and the rising number of fatalities.” Indonesian President Joko Widido had proposed a summit on Myanmar last month.

There was no word on whether the ASEAN leaders would participate in person or by video, or if Myanmar, one of the group's 10 members, would attend. Myanmar's junta also has been battling in some border areas where ethnic minority groups maintain their own armed forces. Several major groups, most notably the Karen and the Kachin, have expressed solidarity with the anti-coup movement and vowed to protect protesters in the territory they control.

The Kachin in the country’s north have engaged in combat with government forces, but the Karen in the east have borne the brunt of the junta’s military assaults. The area where the Karen National Union holds sway has been subject to air attacks by the Myanmar military from March 27 through Monday, said David Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organization that has for many years provided medical assistance to Karen villagers. Burma is another name for Myanmar.

Eubank said his group has verified that 14 civilians died and more than 40 were wounded in the air strikes. He said Tuesday that Myanmar’s military is mounting a ground offensive into Karen territory, driving villagers from their homes and increasing the number of displaced people in the area to more than 20,000, many of whom have to hide in caves or the jungle and are in desperate need of food and other necessities.

“The situation now seems, from our perspective, to be all-out war to the finish,” Eubank wrote Monday in an emailed message. “Unless there is a miracle, the Burma Army will not hold back in their attempt to crush the Karen and any other ethnic group that stands against them, just as they have not held back killing their own Burman people in the cities and plains of Burma.”

Fleeing coup, Myanmar police refugees in India seek asylum

March 21, 2021

MIZORAM, India (AP) — Myanmar police officers who fled to India after they said they defied orders to shoot people protesting their country's military coup are urging India's government not to send them back and to grant them asylum on humanitarian grounds.

One of the officers who has sought refuge in a village in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram along the border with Myanmar said they didn't want to return to their country until the problems there are solved.

That officer and others who spoke to The Associated Press did so on condition of anonymity out of concern for the safety of family members still in Myanmar. Another officer who fled told AP that soldiers ordered them to “arrest, beat, torture the protesters” and said police were always sent to the front whenever there was protest. She said the officers had “no choice” but to leave Myanmar.

The security crackdown following Myanmar's Feb. 1 coup has forced scores of refugees over the border into India. India’s state and federal authorities haven’t given any figures, but some state ministers have said the number could be in the hundreds. One Indian village has given shelter to 34 police personnel and one firefighter who crossed into India over the last two weeks.

The AP has not been able to independently verify their claims that they were ordered to shoot protesters, though images and accounts of the security forces’ crackdown inside Myanmar have shown intensifying violence against civilians. More than 200 people have been killed by security forces since the coup.

India's federal government and the state of Mizoram are at odds over the influx of refugees. Earlier, the Mizoram government had allowed refugees to enter and provided them with food and shelter. But last week, India’s Home Ministry told four Indian states bordering Myanmar, including Mizoram, to take measures to prevent refugees from entering India except on humanitarian grounds.

The ministry said the states were not authorized to accord refugee status to anyone entering from Myanmar, as India is not a signatory to the U.N. Refugee Convention of 1951 or its 1967 Protocol. On Thursday, Mizoram’s top elected official Zoramthanga wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said “India cannot turn a blind eye” to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in his state.

Zoramthanga, who uses one name, wrote in the letter that the people of his state, who share ethnic ties with the refugees from Chin communities in Myanmar, “can’t remain indifferent to their plight." He urged the federal government to review its order and allow refugees into India.

Earlier this month, Myanmar asked India to return the police officers who crossed the border. India shares a 1,643-kilometer (1,020-mile) border with Myanmar, and is home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar in different states.

Doctors protest in Myanmar as state violence continues

March 21, 2021

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — Health care workers marched through Myanmar's second-biggest city at dawn Sunday, kicking off another day of countrywide protests against last month's coup. Elsewhere police used violence against protesters and security forces shot dead at least one person.

About 100 doctors, nurses, medical students and pharmacists, wearing the long white coats, lined up on a main road in Mandalay to chant slogans and voice their opposition to the Feb. 1 coup that toppled the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mandalay has been a major center of opposition to the takeover, and later in the day engineers there held what has been dubbed a “no-human strike,” an increasingly popular tactic that involves lining up signboards in streets or other public areas as proxies for human protesters.

The protests are part of a broader civil disobedience movement, including boycotts and strikes, that aims to restore the civilian government and return Myanmar to its slow march towards democracy that began nearly a decade ago when the military began loosening its grip after five decades of rule

In recent weeks, however, the numbers of protesters has fallen off and the death toll has climbed in the face of lethal force by police and soldiers shooting into crowds. The independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners had verified 247 deaths nationwide.

While Mandalay’s early morning march was unmolested by security forces, at least one protester was shot dead Sunday in Monywa, another central Myanmar city, according to the online news site Myanmar Now and numerous social media posts.

Myanmar Now, citing a doctor in Monywa, identified the victim as Min Min Zaw, who was shot in the head as he was helping assemble barricades for a protest. Virtually all the dead since the coup have been shooting victims, and in many cases, have been shot in the head.

Elsewhere, students, teachers and engineers marched in Dawei, a city in southeastern Myanmar that has become a hotspot for opposition and has seen at least five killings by security forces. On Sunday, protesters broke into small groups and varied the timings of their marches in an effort to avoid confrontations. In the initial period after the coup, protests there had huge turnouts. But after police stated shooting into crowds, turnouts declined.

In a more rural outlying area, protesters from several villages in Launglone Township held their protest on motorbikes. In Yangon’s Thaketa neighborhood, a funeral was held Sunday for 15-year-old high school student Aung Kaung Htet, who was killed a day earlier, Myanmar Now reported.

According to posts on social media, Thaketa was one of several areas where police fired their guns Sunday, the others including Tachileik and Taunnggyi in Shan State in eastern Myanmar, and Gangaw, a town in Magway Division in the west-central part of the country.

The protesters' cause over the weekend received support from demonstrations in several places abroad, including Tokyo, Taipei in Taiwan and on Times Square in New York City. While nearly 250 deaths have been confirmed since the coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says the actual total, including cases where verification has been difficult, is probably much higher.

The group also has confirmed that 2,345 people have been arrested or charged since the coup, with 1,994 still detained or sought for arrest.

Myanmar junta chokes information flow as protests intensify

March 19, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Authorities in Myanmar arrested a spokesman for ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party as they intensify efforts to choke off the spread of information about growing protests against last month’s military takeover.

Despite a crackdown that has killed more than 200 demonstrators so far, protesters were back in the streets Friday morning in several cities and towns. Some rallies proceeded without incident, but in Aungban town in eastern Shan state, online Tachileik News Agency reported that at least seven people were injured when security forces sought to break up their march using tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

The independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported that as of Thursday, it had verified 224 killings linked to the coup’s aftermath, more than half of them in Yangon, the biggest city. It said 2,258 people have been arrested or charged, with 1,938 still detained or evading arrest.

Kyi Toe, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy, was arrested Thursday, according to a Facebook post by Phyo Zeya Thaw, an elected lawmaker from his party. The arrest was also reported Friday by Mratt Kyaw Thu, a respected local journalist.

Kyi Toe had been a major source of information in the early days following the Feb. 1 coup, after State Counsellor Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were taken into custody by the army along with other senior party members. The takeover kept NLD and other lawmakers from taking the seats they won in last November’s election.

The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. Suu Kyi’s party was due to to take power for a second five-year term after the landslide election victory.

No privately owned newspapers were published this past week for the first time in eight years, following bans and voluntary suspensions. The military government also has banned at least five local news organizations from disseminating information on any platform, print, broadcast or online, but its orders were mostly ignored. About 40 journalists have been arrested, with roughly half still in detention, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press.

Restrictions on the internet have been in place since shortly after the coup. They started with a largely ineffective block of social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter, and were followed by a nightly suspension of mobile internet access from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m., which escalated since last Sunday to a round-the-clock stoppage. Broadband Wi-Fi service remains available, though spotty.

The flow of information is even more restricted in six townships of Yangon, which have been under martial law since Monday. Movement in and out of those neighborhoods is difficult, and some residents have reported having their electricity cut off. Those neighborhoods were wracked by police violence on Sunday, with dozens of protesters killed.

In one of the strongest statements issued by a fellow Southeast Asian nation, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday urged a halt to violence in Myanmar and asked other leaders to hold a regional summit on the crisis.

“Indonesia urges that the use of violence in Myanmar be stopped immediately to avoid more victims. The safety and welfare of the people must be a top priority,” Widodo said in a televised address, offering his condolences to the victims and their families. “Indonesia also urges dialogue and reconciliation to be carried out immediately to restore democracy, peace and stability in Myanmar."

Widodo, the leader of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, said that he will immediately speak with Brunei, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to set up a meeting of leaders of its 10 member countries.

Widodo’s move came after ASEAN foreign ministers held a March 2 meeting at which they reached no consensus on the crisis.

Myanmar factory attacks put focus on Chinese influence

March 18, 2021

BANGKOK (AP) — Confusion over what exactly happened during recent attacks on factories in Myanmar has highlighted the complex and troubled nature of the country's relations with China amid a broad public backlash against a Feb. 1 coup.

Many in Myanmar suspect Beijing of supporting the military’s takeover, and there has long been a deep vein of resentment against China's growing influence, but protesters insist they were not responsible for a spate of attacks on factories last weekend. Some say they suspect the military instigated attacks on the factories to justify imposing martial law in industrial zones that have been hotspots for protests against the junta.

Adding to the uncertainties, China has said it is prepared to do more to protect its extensive business investments in Myanmar, which include factories, pipelines and other big infrastructure projects.

China's state-run Global Times asserted that protesters “incited by the West” had attacked 32 factories, causing 240 million yuan (about $30 million) in damage. Turmoil is bad for business and will deter investors, the Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN said in a commentary.

“But China won’t allow its interests to be exposed to further aggression. If the authorities cannot deliver and the chaos continues to spread, China might be forced into taking more drastic action to protect its interests,” CGTN said.

With limited internet and cell phone connectivity, outside observers face increasing difficulty verifying what is going on in Myanmar or getting an official response from the junta. The vast Hlaing Thayar industrial zone and several other districts of Yangon, the country’s biggest city, have been under martial law since Monday, putting them under complete military control and making it difficult for protesters to organize and communicate.

But people living in the area — home to hundreds of clothing, shoe and other factories — said only a handful of factories were affected. Local TV networks including the military-run Myawaddy TV reported that five factories were burnt in Hlaing Thayar on Sunday.

Much of the controversy over the arson attacks has centered on what happened in and around the Chinese-owned Xing Jia shoe factory in Hlaing Thayar. According to records from Panjiva and the Myanmar Investment Commission, the factory makes Western brand boots such as DeWalt and Dunlop and a wide variety of clothing.

But accounts from multiple sources, including Yangon-based labor organizer Andrew Tillett-Saks, say the fires broke out after five garment workers were shot and killed by the military when they reported to the factory to collect their February wages.

People living in the industrial zone contacted by phone by The Associated Press said that despite suspicions that the Feb. 1 coup had Chinese support, workers were not responsible for burning the factories, which are protected by high walls and guards.

“Many shouted in anger to burn down Chinese-owned factories, but none actually implemented such attacks because it's hard to access those areas and many residents work in those factories,” said San Maung, a bicycle repairman living in the area.

“If people had wanted to attack these places, they could have done so since day one. There was no looting nor fires at all until March 14, when truckloads of soldiers brutally suppressed the protests,” San Maung said.

According to the independent group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the violence Sunday claimed at least 38 lives. The Myanmar-based group, which keeps a tally of deaths related to the crackdown, said that as of Wednesday, 217 people had been killed and 2,191 arrested or charged.

The Facebook page for the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar was flooded with tens of thousands of angry comments from local residents incensed over the lack of any mention of sympathy for those who died in the violence, after the page posted a call for better protection for the factories and Chinese personnel.

“Worryingly, there's a lot of anti-Chinese sentiments," Thiri Thant Mon of Pegu Partners, a Yangon-based consultancy, said Thursday in a web seminar hosted by Japan's Nikkei Asia. “That's worrying because there are a lot of native Myanmar Chinese businesspeople as well.

“Any kind of racial tension is worrying," she said. Apart from hundreds of factories making mostly clothing, shoes and other light industrial products, China has massive investments in Myanmar's energy and mining sectors.

One of the biggest is the twin oil and gas pipelines that run nearly 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Made island on Myanmar's west coast to Ruili, on the border of China's Yunnan province. Before the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi's government, which was due to remain in power after a landslide win in a November election, had announced a tender for another big Chinese-led project, a huge, deep-water port in Kyaukphyu, western Myanmar. A January visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi drew a pledge for both sides to work toward completing that project and pushing ahead with an “economic corridor" linking China's southwestern Yunnan province with the port and major cities in Myanmar.

The coup and its aftermath have raised risks for all doing business in and with Myanmar, analysts say. Such setbacks are nothing new for China, whose relations with its resource-rich neighbor were ruptured for a few years in the late 1960s when anti-Chinese riots broke out during Mao Zedong’s ultra-leftist Cultural Revolution.

In more recent years, Myanmar's leaders for years have relied on China, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to help shield both military and civilian governments from harsh U.N. sanctions for human rights abuses.

Suu Kyi payments claimed as Myanmar junta raises pressure

March 18, 2021

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — A Myanmar construction magnate with links to military rulers said he personally gave more than half a million dollars in cash to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a broadcast on state television aimed at discrediting the ousted civilian government.

The statement by Maung Waik could pave the way for more serious charges against Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the Feb. 1 military takeover while security forces increasingly use lethal force against a popular uprising demanding the restoration of democratically elected leaders.

The military has already tried to implicate Suu Kyi in corruption, alleging she was given $600,000 plus gold bars by a political ally. She and President Win Myint have been charged so far with inciting unrest, possession of walkie-talkies and violating a pandemic order limiting public gatherings.

In the latest salvo of allegations, Maung Waik, who has previously been convicted of drug trafficking, told state TV he gave cash to government ministers to help his businesses. He said the money included $100,000 given to Suu Kyi in 2018 for a charitable foundation named after her mother, $150,000 in 2019 for which he did not specify a reason, $50,000 last February and $250,000 in April, again with no purpose specified.

The country's Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the allegations and vowed to take action against Suu Kyi under the Anti-Corruption Law, the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

Meanwhile, a court has issued an arrest warrant for the country's U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, on charges of treason, the newspaper reported. The charge stems from his remarks Feb. 26 at U.N. headquarters, in which he condemned the coup and appealed for “the strongest possible action from the international community” to restore democracy in his country.

Also charged with treason was Mahn Win Khaing Than, the civilian leader of Myanmar’s government in hiding, the newspaper said. The acting vice president and member of Suu Kyi’s political party on Saturday had vowed to continue supporting a “revolution” to eject the military from power.

On Thursday, residents of a Yangon suburb set street barricades ablaze to block riot police. Video showed large palls of smoke rising over the Tha Mine area in the city’s Hlaing township, with another barricade burning fiercely in the middle of a residential area. One resident, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation, told The Associated Press that protesters set them alight after hearing that a column of police trucks was on its way.

Building barricades – and occasionally burning them – are now established tactics by opponents of the junta all over the country to impede police and army movement. The barriers also provide some protection from the now-frequent use of live ammunition against them.

On Wednesday, at least two people were shot dead in Kalay in northwestern Myanmar, according to media and social media posts that included photos of the victims. More than 200 people have been killed by security forces since the coup, according to credible tallies.

Myanmar police fire on protesters in ancient former capital

March 07, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police in Myanmar’s ancient former capital, Bagan, opened fire Sunday on demonstrators protesting last month’s military takeover, wounding several people, according to witness accounts and videos on social media.

At least five people were reported wounded as police sought to break up the Bagan protest, and photos showed one young man with bloody wounds on his chin and neck, believed to have been caused by a rubber bullet. Bullet casings collected at the scene indicated that live rounds were also fired.

The city, located in the central Mandalay region, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of the more than 2,000 pagodas or their remnants still situated there, dating from the ninth to 13th centuries, when it was the capital of a kingdom that later became known as Burma and is now Myanmar.

Bagan is best known for being one of the country’s top tourist attractions, but it has also been the scene of large protest marches against the military’s Feb. 1 seizure of power. Large protests have occurred daily across many cities and towns in Myanmar, and security forces have responded with greater use of lethal force and mass arrests. At least 18 protesters were shot and killed on Feb. 28 and 38 on Wednesday, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. More than 1,500 have been arrested, the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.

Protests elsewhere Sunday, including in the two biggest cities of Yangon and Mandalay, were also met with the use of force by police firing warning shots, and variously employing tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades.

Multiple reports from Yangon said there were also police raids Saturday night seeking to seize organizers and supporters of the protest movement. A ward chairman from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which was ousted from power in the coup, was found dead in a military hospital Sunday morning by fellow residents of his Pabedan neighborhood, according to a post on Facebook by NLD lawmaker Sithu Maung.

Suspicion was rampant on social media that Khin Maung Latt, 58, died due to a beating in custody after being taken from his residence, but no official cause of death was immediately announced. In Yangon and elsewhere, raids are carried out nightly after an 8 p.m. curfew by police and soldiers. The arrests are often carried out at gunpoint, without warrants.

In videos taken Saturday night and posted online, sporadic fire from heavy weapons could be heard in some neighborhoods. The escalation of violence has put pressure on the global community to act to restrain the junta. The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades had languished under strict military rule that led to international isolation and sanctions.

Suu Kyi’s party led a return to civilian rule with a landslide election victory in 2015, and with an even greater margin of votes last year. It would have been installed for a second five-year term last month, but instead Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and other members of the government were placed in military detention.

A rare light note was struck Saturday when demonstrators in the central city of Monywa poured cans of beer over their feet and those of passers-by to show their contempt for the brewery’s owners — the military. Myanmar Beer is one of a number of business concerns in the country that are linked to the generals and has seen its sales plummet in the weeks following the coup. It also has lost its Japanese partner, Kirin, which announced it was pulling out of the joint venture as a result of the power grab.

In neighboring Thailand, several thousand people, Thai as well as from Myanmar, rallied Sunday outside the regional office of the United Nations to bring attention to the crisis and their desire for international action to end the junta’s violence.

“I have a good life here, but I’m fighting for my relatives and families and friends in Myanmar. Since Day One (when) the military took our leader, we are here,” said 26-year-old Aye Nanda Soe, who works in digital marketing and lives in Bangkok with her mother and brother while her father resides in Yangon. “We want the U.N. to protect our people first, then help our leader. My people are not safe anymore.”

Protests, tear gas in Myanmar after UN envoy urges action

March 06, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Security forces in Myanmar again used force Saturday to disperse anti-coup protesters, a day after the U.N. special envoy urged the Security Council to take action to quell junta violence that this week left about 50 peaceful demonstrators dead and scores injured.

Fresh protests were reported Saturday morning in the biggest city of Yangon, where stun grenades and tear gas were used against protesters. On Wednesday, 18 people were reported killed there. Protests were also reported in Myitkyina, the capital of the northern state of Kachin, Myeik, in the country’s far south where police fired tear gas at students, and Dawei in the southeast where tear gas was also used. Other places included Kyaikto, in the eastern state of Mon, Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state in eastern Myanmar, and Myingyan, a city where one protester was killed on Wednesday.

The escalation of violence has put pressure on the world community to act to restrain the junta, which seized power on Feb. 1 by ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades had languished under strict military rule that led to international isolation and sanctions.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party led a return to civilian rule with a landslide election victory in 2015, and with an even greater margin of votes last year. It would have taken a second five-year term of office last month, but instead she and President Win Myint and other members of her government were placed in military detention.

Large protests have occurred daily across many cities and towns. Security forces responded with greater use of lethal force and mass arrests. At least 18 protesters were shot and killed last Sunday and 38 on Wednesday, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. More than 1,000 have been arrested, the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.

U.N. special envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said in her briefing to Friday’s closed Security Council meeting that council unity and “robust” action are critical “in pushing for a stop to the violence and the restoration of Myanmar’s democratic institutions.”

“We must denounce the actions by the military,” she said. “It is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of Myanmar firmly, in support of the clear November election results.”

She reiterated an earlier appeal to the international community not to “lend legitimacy or recognition to this regime that has been forcefully imposed and nothing but chaos has since followed.” The Security Council took no immediate action. Council diplomats said Britain circulated a draft presidential statement for consideration, a step below a legally binding resolution.

Any kind of coordinated action at the U.N. will be difficult because two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, are likely to veto it. Schraner Burgener earlier this week warned Myanmar’s army that the world’s nations and the Security Council “might take huge, strong measures.”

“And the answer was, ‘We are used to sanctions, and we survived those sanctions in the past,’” she said. When she warned that Myanmar would become isolated, Schraner Burgener said “the answer was, ‘We have to learn to walk with only a few friends.’”

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies urged immediate protection for all Red Cross volunteers and health workers. The statement came after video from a surveillance camera that was circulated widely on social media showed members of an ambulance crew in Yangon being savagely beaten after they were taken into custody by police on Wednesday.

“We express profound sadness that Myanmar Red Cross volunteers have been injured while on duty providing lifesaving first aid treatment to wounded people, in line with fundamental principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality. Red Cross volunteers should never be targeted," the federation said.

Myanmar protesters return to streets as crackdown continues

March 02, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Demonstrators in Myanmar took to the streets again on Tuesday to protest last month’s seizure of power by the military, as foreign ministers from Southeast Asian countries prepared to meet to discuss the political crisis. Police in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, used tear gas against the protesters.

The planned special meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations comes in the wake of worsening violence in Myanmar. The country’s new military rulers over the weekend escalated their use of deadly force and mass arrests to try to quash protests against the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The U.N. said it believed at least 18 people in several cities were killed on Sunday when security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrating crowds. Funerals were being held Tuesday for several of the victims.

The authorities also detained more than 1,000 people over the weekend, according to the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Those detained included at least seven journalists, among them Thein Zaw of The Associated Press. At least two dozen journalists have been detained since the military’s takeover.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Tuesday in the Hledan area of Yangon, where a day earlier police had fired repeated rounds of tear gas canisters. The protesters, many of whom wore construction helmets, dragged bamboo poles and debris to form barricades to impede any attempt to rush forward and make arrests, and chanted slogans and sang songs at the police lines.

Tear gas was used again Tuesday. The demonstrators — hundreds of mainly young people — fled in panic but soon returned to their barricades. Protesters also took up their flags and banners and assembled to march through the streets of Dawei, a small city in southeastern Myanmar that has seen almost daily large demonstrations against the coup.

Some of them also carried metal shields, an apparent response to the possible use of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets by police. On Sunday, Dawei was the scene of a violent crackdown, with up to five people killed when security forces shot into a large crowd of demonstrators.

The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar after five decades of military rule, coming the day a newly elected Parliament was supposed to take office. Ousted leader Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party would have been installed for a second five-year term in office, but instead she was detained along with President Win Myint and other senior officials.

The military government has charged Suu Kyi with several criminal offenses that critics say are politically motivated and are meant to keep her locked up. If convicted of any of the charges, she would probably be barred from taking part in the election promised in a year’s time by the military.

Following her detention on the day of the coup, the 75-year-old Suu Kyi was initially held at her residence in the capital, Naypyitaw, but members of her party now say they don’t know where she is. After the weekend’s crackdown, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the use of lethal force against peaceful protesters and arbitrary arrests “unacceptable,” said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

“Words of condemnation are necessary and welcome but insufficient. The world must act. We must all act,” the U.N.’s independent expert on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said in a separate statement.

He proposed that countries could institute a global embargo on the sale of arms to Myanmar and “tough, targeted and coordinated sanctions” against those responsible for the coup, the crackdown and other rights abuses.

Any kind of coordinated action at the United Nations, however, would be difficult since two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China and Russia, would almost certainly veto it. ASEAN’s policy of seeking a consensus among it members also makes it unlikely to take strong action.

Some countries have imposed or are considering imposing their own sanctions. In Washington, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan issued a statement saying the U.S. is “alarmed” by the violence and stands in solidarity with Myanmar’s people.

Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

Shots, tear gas as police in Myanmar intensify use of force

February 28, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Security forces in Myanmar made mass arrests and appeared to use lethal force on Sunday as they intensified their efforts to break up protests a month after the military staged a coup.

There were reports of gunfire as police in Yangon, the biggest city, fired tear gas and water cannons while trying to clear the streets of demonstrators demanding that the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi be restored to power. Photos of shell casings from live ammunition used in assault rifles were posted on social media, adding to evidence that live rounds were fired.

A violent crackdown also occurred in Dawei, a much smaller city in southeastern Myanmar, where local media reported at least three people were killed during a protest march. The fatalities could not immediately be independently confirmed. Confirming reports of protesters’ deaths has been difficult amid the chaos and general lack of official news.

The Feb. 1 army takeover reversed years of slow progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party would have been installed for a second five-year term in office, but the army blocked Parliament from convening and detained her and President Win Myint, as well as other top members of her government.

Sunday’s violence erupted in early morning when medical students were marching in Yangon’s streets near the Hledan Center intersection, which has become the gathering point for protesters who then fan out to other parts of the city.

Videos and photos showed protesters running away as police charged at them, and residents setting up makeshift roadblocks to slow their advance. Nearby, residents were pleading with police to release those they picked up from the street and shoved into police trucks to be taken away. Dozens or more were believed to have been detained.

There was no immediate word on Yangon casualties. Sounds of gunfire could be heard in the streets and there were what appeared to be smoke grenades thrown into the crowds. Demonstrators later Sunday regrouped and were said to be planning to march to the local police station to demand the release of the medical students.

In Dawei, video from the online media company Dakkhina Insight showed a young man receiving urgent medical attention in the street for what appeared to be a wound in his upper chest. Medics held an oxygen mask to his face while calling out for an ambulance.

Security forces on Saturday began employing rougher tactics, taking preemptive actions to break up protests and making scores, if not hundreds of arrests. Greater numbers of soldiers have also joined police. Many of those detained were taken to Insein Prison in Yangon’s northern outskirts, historically notorious for holding political prisoners.

According to the independent Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, as of Saturday, 854 people had been arrested, charged or sentenced at one point in relation to the coup, and 771 were being detained or sought for arrest. The group said that while it had documented 75 new arrests , it understood that hundreds of other people were also picked up Saturday in Yangon and elsewhere.

MRTV, a Myanmar state-run television channel, broadcast an announcement Saturday night from the Foreign Ministry that the country’s ambassador to the United Nations has been fired because he had abused his power and misbehaved by failing to follow the instructions of the government and “betraying” it.

Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun had declared in an emotional speech Friday at the U.N. General Assembly in New York that he represented Suu Kyi’s “civilian government elected by the people” and supported the struggle against military rule.

He urged all countries to issue public statements strongly condemning the coup, and to refuse to recognize the military regime. He also called for stronger international measures to stop violence by security forces against peaceful demonstrators.

The junta said it took power because last year’s polls were marred by massive irregularities. The election commission before the military seized power coup had refuted the allegation of widespread fraud. The junta dismissed the old commission’s members and appointed new ones, who on Friday annulled the election results.

Myanmar police deploy early to crank up pressure on protests

February 27, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police in Myanmar escalated their crackdown on demonstrators against this month’s military takeover, deploying early and in force on Saturday as protesters sought to assemble in the country's two biggest cities and elsewhere.

Security forces in some areas appeared to become more aggressive in using force and making arrests, utilizing more plainclothes officers than had previously revealed themselves. Photos posted on social media showed that residents of at least two cities, Yangon and Monywa, resisted by erecting makeshift street barricades to try to hinder the advance of the police.

Myanmar’s crisis took a dramatic turn on the international stage at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday when the country’s U.N. ambassador declared his loyalty to the ousted civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and called on the world to pressure the military to cede power.

There were arrests Saturday in Myanmar's two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, where demonstrators have been hitting the streets daily to peacefully demand the restoration of the government of Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a landslide election victory in November. Police have increasingly been enforcing an order by the junta banning gatherings of five or more people.

Many other cities and towns have also hosted large protests against the Feb. 1 coup. Police in Dawei, in the southeast, and Monywa, 135 kilometers (85 miles) northwest of Mandalay, used force against protesters. Both cities, with populations of less then 200,000 each, have been seeing large demonstrations.

Social media carried unconfirmed reports of a protester shot dead in Monywa. The reports could not immediately be independently confirmed but appeared credible, with both photos and identification of the victim, though later accounts said the woman had not died. The reports from Monywa also said dozens or more people were arrested.

The military takeover reversed years of slow progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. Suu Kyi’s party would have been installed for a second five-year term in office, but the army blocked Parliament from convening and detained her and President Win Myint, as well as other top members of her government.

At the General Assembly in New York, Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, declared in an emotional speech to fellow delegates that he represented Suu Kyi’s “civilian government elected by the people” and supported the fight against military rule.

MRTV, a Myanmar state-run television channel, broadcast an announcement Saturday from the Foreign Ministry that Kyaw Moe Tun has been dismissed from his post because he had abused his power and misbehaved by failing to follow the instructions of the government and betraying it.

Kyaw Moe Tun had urged all countries to issue public statements strongly condemning the coup, and to refuse to recognize the military regime. He also called for stronger international measures to stop violence by security forces against peaceful demonstrators.

He drew loud applause from many diplomats in the 193-nation global body, as well as effusive praise from other Burmese on social media, who described him as a hero. The ambassador flashed a three-finger salute that has been adopted by the civil disobedience movement at the end of his speech in which he addressed people back home in Burmese.

In Yangon on Saturday morning, police began arrests early at the Hledan Center intersection, which has become the gathering point for protesters who then fan out to other parts of the city. Police took similar action in residential neighborhoods.

Security forces also tried to thwart protests in Mandalay, where roadblocks were set up at several key intersections and the regular venues for rallies were flooded with police. Buddhist monks were prominent in Saturday's march in Mandalay, as they have been regularly, lending moral authority to the civil disobedience movement that is challenging the military rulers.

Mandalay has been the scene of several violent confrontations, and at least four of eight confirmed deaths linked to the protests, according to the independent Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. On Friday, at least three people there were injured, including two who were shot in the chest by rubber bullets and another who suffered what appeared to be a bullet wound to his leg.

According to the association, as of Friday, 771 people had been arrested, charged or sentenced at one point in relation to the coup, and 689 were being detained or sought for arrest. The junta said it took power because last year’s polls were marred by massive irregularities. The election commission before the military seized power coup had refuted the allegation of widespread fraud. The junta dismissed the old commission’s members and appointed new ones, who on Friday annulled the election results.

Associated Press writer Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Myanmar security forces disperse anti-coup protesters

February 26, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Security forces in Myanmar's largest city on Friday fired warning shots and beat truncheons against their shields while moving to disperse more than 1,000 anti-coup protesters.

The demonstrators had gathered in front of a popular shopping mall in Yangon, holding placards and chanting slogans denouncing the Feb. 1 coup even as the security presence increased and a water-cannon truck was brought to the area.

When around 50 riot police moved against the protesters, warning shots could be heard, and at least one demonstrator was held by officers. Security forces chased the protesters off the main road and continued to pursue them in the nearby lanes, as some ducked into houses to hide.

The confrontation underscored the rising tensions between a growing popular revolt and Myanmar's generals who toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a takeover that shocked the international community and reversed years of slow progress toward democracy.

On Thursday, supporters of Myanmar’s junta attacked people protesting the military government, using slingshots, iron rods and knives to injure several of them. Photos and videos posted on social media showed groups attacking people in downtown Yangon as police stood by without intervening.

The violence erupted as hundreds marched in support of the coup. They carried banners in English with the slogans “We Stand With Our Defense Services” and “We Stand With State Administration Council,” which is the official name of the junta.

Late Thursday, police turned out in force in Yangon’s Tarmwe neighborhood where they tried to clear the streets of residents protesting the military’s appointment of a new administrator for one ward. Several arrests were made as people scattered in front of riot police who used flash bang grenades to disperse the crowd.

No pro-military rally appeared to be scheduled for Friday. In Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, anti-coup protesters also took to the streets Friday. They included a contingent of Buddhist nuns holding placards that read “We Immediately Need Action by Force from US Army.” Other demonstrators carried signs reading “Free our leader Aung San Suu Kyi,” “Pray for Myanmar,” and “Reject Military Coup.”

By midday, security forces had blocked the main road in downtown Mandalay to prevent the protesters from gathering. Suu Kyi has not been seen since the coup. Around 50 of her supporters held a prayer Friday opposite her home in Yangon. The rambling mansion on University Avenue is where she spent many years under house arrest during previous military governments, and the residence has long had iconic status among her supporters.

“Because of the situation, on this day of the full moon we are sending love to, and reciting Buddha’s teachings for Mother Suu, President U Win Myint and all those unlawfully detained,” said Hmuu Sitt yan Naing, who joined the prayer group.

It is believed Suu Kyi is currently being detained in the capital Naypyitaw. She is due to face a court on Monday on charges brought against her by the military junta that are widely seen as politically motivated.

Several Western countries have imposed or threatened sanctions against Myanmar’s military. On Thursday, Britain announced further measures against members of the ruling junta for “overseeing human rights violations since the coup.”

Amid the international outrage, Facebook also announced Thursday it would ban all accounts linked to the military as well as ads from military-controlled companies.

Protests swell after Myanmar junta raises specter of force

February 23, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Protesters gathered in Myanmar’s biggest city on Monday despite the ruling junta’s threat to use lethal force against people who join a general strike against the military's takeover three weeks ago.

More than 1,000 protesters gathered near the U.S. Embassy in Yangon despite barriers blocking the way, but left to avoid a confrontation after 20 military trucks with riot police arrived nearby. Protests continued in other parts of the city, including next to Sule Pagoda, a traditional gathering point.

Factories, workplaces and shops were shuttered across the country Monday in response to the call for a nationwide strike. The closings extended to the capital, Naypyitaw. The junta had warned against a general strike in a public announcement Sunday night on state television broadcaster MRTV.

“It is found that the protesters have raised their incitement towards riot and anarchy mob on the day of 22 February. Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life,” the onscreen text said in English, replicating the spoken announcement in Burmese.

The junta’s statement also blamed criminals for past protest violence, with the result that “the security force members had to fire back.” Three protesters have been fatally shot. Trucks cruised the streets of Yangon on Sunday night, blaring similar warnings.

The protest movement, which seeks to restore power to the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and have her and other leaders released from detention, has embraced nonviolence. The nationwide strike was dubbed Five-Twos, for the five number twos in the numeric form of Monday’s date.

“I am joining the 22222 nationwide protest as a citizen of the country. We must join the protest this time without fail,” said 42-year-old Zayar, who owns a bottled water business in the capital. “So I’ve closed down my factory and joined the demonstration.”

Zin Mi Mi Aung, a 27-year-old saleswoman, also joined the strike. “We don’t want to be governed by the regime," she said as people marched and chanted behind her. "We will fight against them until we win.”

Thousands of people gathered in the capital’s wide boulevards, many on motorbikes to allow swift movement in the event of any police action. Reports and photos of protests in at least a dozen cities and towns were posted on social media. Overhead views, some shot from drones, showed massive crowds in six cities appearing to number in the tens of thousands.

There were pictures of a particularly colorful event in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state, where scores of small red hot-air balloons were set aloft. A bigger one was adorned with a drawing of the three-finger salute adopted by the anti-coup movement. The city is famous for its annual hot-air balloon festival.

In Pyinmana, a satellite town of Naypyitaw, police chased people through the streets to arrest them. Reports on social media, including from worried family members, said police had arrested 200 people or more, mostly young people, and sent them to a military base. If confirmed, it would be the biggest mass arrest since the protests started.

The general strike was an extension of actions called by the Civil Disobedience Movement, a loosely organized group that has been encouraging civil servants and workers at state enterprises to walk off their jobs. Many transport workers and white collar workers have responded to the appeal.

On Saturday, a General Strike Committee was formed by more than two dozen groups to provide a more formal structure for the resistance movement and launch a “spring revolution.” The United States and several Western governments have called for the junta to refrain from violence, release detainees and restore Myanmar's elected government. On Monday, the U.S. said it was imposing sanctions against more junta members because of killings of peaceful protesters by security forces.

Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Tun and Gen. Maung Maung Kyaw add to other military leaders and entities facing U.S. sanctions, and Britain and Canada have taken similar action since the military takeover. The U.S. condemned the attacks on protesters, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement vowing to take further action if more violence occurred. “We call on the military and police to cease all attacks on peaceful protesters, immediately release all those unjustly detained, stop attacks on and intimidation of journalists and activists, and restore the democratically elected government,” he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military for most of its history since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. A gradual move toward democracy in the past decade allowed Suu Kyi to lead a civilian government beginning in 2016, though the generals retained substantial power under a military-drafted constitution.

Her party won last November's election by a landslide, but the military stepped in before Parliament was to convene on Feb. 1, detained Suu Kyi and other government officials and instituted a one-year state of emergency. It contends the vote was tainted by fraud and plans to reinvestigate those allegations before a new election is held.

Myanmar anti-coup protesters honor woman shot dead by police

February 20, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Anti-coup protesters in Myanmar's two largest cities on Saturday paid tribute to the young woman who died a day earlier after being shot by police during a rally against the military takeover.

An impromptu memorial created under an elevated roadway in Yangon attracted around 1,000 protesters. A wreath of bright yellow flowers was hung beneath a photograph of Mya Thwet Thwet Khine, who was shot in the capital Naypyitaw on Feb. 9, two days before her 20th birthday.

Her death on Friday, announced by her family, was the first confirmed fatality among thousands of protesters who have faced off against security forces since the military took power on Feb 1. Protesters at the memorial chanted and held up signs that read “End the dictatorship in Myanmar" and “You will be remembered Mya Thwet Thwet Khine.” The supporters also laid roses and rose petals on images of the woman.

Video from the day she was shot show her sheltering from water cannons and suddenly dropping to the ground after a bullet penetrated the motorcycle helmet she was wearing. She had been on life support in a hospital for more than a week with what doctors said was no chance of recovery.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price offered his government’s condolences Friday and reiterated calls on the military to refrain from violence against peaceful protestors. In Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, a protest led by medical university students drew more than 1,000 people, many of whom also carried flowers and images of Mya Thwet Thwet Khine.

Others held signs saying “CDM,” referring to the nationwide civil disobedience movement that has encouraged doctors, engineers and others to protest the coup by refusing to work. Across the country protests showed no signs of slowing down on Saturday despite recent crackdowns by the military government — including a sixth consecutive night in which the internet was cut for many hours.

Demonstrators also gathered elsewhere in Yangon, chanting and holding placards and images of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose democratically elected government was overthrown. Aerial images taken Friday showed streets in Yangon painted with the words “The military dictatorship must fall” in Burmese, and “We want democracy” and “Free our leaders" in English.

Security forces have been relatively restrained so far in confronting protesters in Yangon, but appeared to be toughening their stance in areas where there is less media presence. Police used force for a second day Friday to arrest protesters in Myitkyina, the capital of the remote northern state of Kachin. The Kachin ethnic minority has long been in conflict with the central government, and there has been intermittent armed struggle against the army there for decades.

The junta seized power after detaining Suu Kyi and preventing Parliament from convening, saying elections in November were tainted by voting irregularities. The election outcome, in which Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, was affirmed by an election commission that has since been replaced by the military. The junta says it will hold new elections in a year’s time.

The U.S., British and Canadian governments have imposed sanctions on the new military leaders, and they and other nations have called for Suu Kyi’s administration to be restored. The coup was a major setback to Myanmar’s transition to democracy after 50 years of army rule. Suu Kyi came to power after her National League for Democracy party won a 2015 election, but the generals retained substantial power under the constitution, which was adopted under a military regime.