YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Large crowds protesting against military takeover in Myanmar again challenged a ban on protests on Wednesday, even after security forces used force against them and they stormed the political party headquarters of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Witnesses estimated that tens of thousands, if not more, of protesters attended Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s largest cities. The rallies also took place in the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere.
Protesters are demanding that power be restored to the ousted civilian government of Suu Kyi. They are also seeking freedom for her and other members of the ruling party since the military arrested them after blocking the new session of Parliament on 1 February.
“As part of Generation Z, we are first-time voters. This is our first time protesting as well, “said a student who refused to give her name for fear of harassment.” We were denied votes, and that’s totally unfair. We don’t want to. We hope they release the our leaders and apply a real democracy ”.
The military says it acted because the November election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in stages, was marred by irregularities. The election commission had refuted the allegation.
Some protesters in Yangon gathered at foreign embassies to seek international pressure against the coup.
A small group outside the Japanese embassy signed and sang “We want democracy, we have dictators!” They sat in several children’s pools, three or less per pool, in what appeared to be a blatant way to show compliance with an emergency law banning meetings of more than five people.
Others marched through the city, singing and waving Suu Kyi’s party flags.
Another group dragged a fake coffin as part of a funeral drill for senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the military leader who is the country’s new leader.
Officials in many areas have been risking their work to march with protesters, and even some police have changed sides to oppose the coup. In a dramatic video shot Wednesday in a small town in Kayah state in eastern Myanmar, a group of 42 police and women declared their allegiance to the ousted elected government and resisted the pleas of a senior official. to return to service. Local residents rushed to his side to avoid any effort to stop them.
The head of the UN International Labor Organization, Guy Ryder, urged Myanmar’s military leaders to “ensure that workers and employers can exercise their rights of freedom of association in a climate of freedom and security. complete, free from violence and threats “.
“I call on the military to immediately remove orders restricting meetings of more than five people, halting the repression of dissenting voices and full respect for the fundamental and human rights and freedoms of workers,” Ryder said. “I urge military leaders to ensure that no worker, including public officials, is arrested, intimidated or harassed for participating in peaceful protests.”
Growing protests and the board’s latest incursion suggest there is little room for reconciliation. The military, which ruled directly for five decades after a 1962 coup, used lethal force to quell a massive 1988 uprising and a 2007 uprising led by Buddhist monks.
On Tuesday in Naypyitaw and Mandalay, police sprayed water cannons and fired warning shots to try to ward off protesters. In Naypyitaw, they fired rubber bullets and apparently live rounds, injuring a protester, according to witnesses and images on social media. Reports could not be confirmed independently.
Human Rights Watch quoted a doctor at a hospital in Naypyitaw as saying the woman was in critical condition. The doctor said the woman had a projectile in her head, which was believed to be a bullet that had penetrated the back of her right ear and had lost significant brain function. The doctor said a man had also been treated with an upper body wound compatible with live ammunition.
State television network MRTV, in one of its few reports on the protests, aired scenes on Tuesday night claiming to show that protesters were responsible for the violence.
“Myanmar police should immediately put an end to the use of excessive and lethal force,” urged the New York-based watchdog.
No major incidents were reported in connection with the large turnout of Wednesday’s protest in Mandalay. Social media users said 82 people who had been arrested were released because of the work of local lawyers.
Medical students and staff, Buddhist lawyers and monks were among a huge section of residents who marched on Mandalay, but the biggest buzz on social media was generated by a contingent of shirtless muscular men with six-pack packages. well defined that they were said to be members of a fitness gym.
The most photogenic protesters in Yangon were a group of young women wearing formal dresses best suited for a wedding reception.
The military stormed the national headquarters of Suu Kyi’s party on Tuesday night, which before the military took power was scheduled to take power for a second five-year term.
Party spokesman Kyi Toe wrote on Facebook that the army broke into the Yangon headquarters and another office and took documents and computer hardware with them. The headquarters were closed on Wednesday.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered new sanctions, saying he was issuing an executive order that would prevent Myanmar generals from accessing $ 1 billion in assets in the United States. Biden added that more measures will come.
“The military must relinquish the power it took and show respect for the will of the people of Burma,” he said.
A day earlier, the U.S. had “strongly” condemned violence against protesters.
“We reiterate our calls for the military to relinquish power, restore democratically elected government, release detainees and lift all telecommunications restrictions and refrain from violence,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
New Zealand suspended all high-level military and political contacts with Myanmar, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced in Wellington, adding that any aid from New Zealand should not go to or benefit the military government. of Myanmar.
The UN Human Rights Council, the body of 47 member states based in Geneva, will hold a special session on Friday to consider “the implications of the crisis in Myanmar for human rights.”
Britain and the European Union led the request for the session, which would involve a high-profile public debate among diplomats on the situation in Myanmar and could lead to a resolution that raised concerns about the situation or recommended international action.