Myanmar security forces kill seven protesters and a Chinese-owned factory caught fire

(Reuters) – Myanmar troops fired on protesters against the coup on Wednesday, killing at least seven people and wounding several, according to media reports, as a Chinese-owned factory caught fire in the city. Yangon’s trading capital and activists burned the Chinese flag.

The country’s military ruler said the civil disobedience movement was “destroying” Myanmar.

More than 580 people have been killed, according to an activist group, in the unrest in Myanmar since a February 1 coup that ended a brief period of civilian-led democracy. . Protests and strikes across the country have persisted ever since despite forced military use to stifle opposition.

Security forces opened fire on protesters in the northwestern city of Kale on Wednesday as they demanded the restoration of Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, a resident told Reuters.

The media cited witnesses who said there were casualties and repeated shootings. Mizzima and Irrawaddy media reported that five people were killed and several were injured.

The Kale resident said the information was provided to him by witnesses, who took photos of five bodies.

Reuters was unable to verify the toll independently.

Two protesters were killed in the town of Bago, near Yangon, Myanmar Now reported.

A fire broke out at the China-owned JOC clothing factory in Yangon on Wednesday, fire departments said. No casualties or details of the extent of the damage were reported.

In another district of Yangon, activists set fire to the Chinese flag, according to images posted on Facebook.

China is believed to support the military junta and last month there were arson attacks on 32 Chinese investment factories in Yangon.

General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the board, said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the civil disobedience movement or CDM had stopped the operation of hospitals, schools, roads, offices and factories.

“While protests are taking place in neighboring countries and the international community, they are not destroying companies,” he said. “The CDM is an activity to destroy the country.”

According to the advocacy group of the Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 581 people, including dozens of children, have been shot dead by troops and police almost daily since the coup and security forces have detained nearby of 3,500 people, with 2,750 still detained.

“LOST CONTROL” BOARD

The ability of the youth-led anti-coup movement to organize campaigns and share information through social media and instant messaging has been severely hampered by the frequency of mobile data services and broadband wireless Internet.

Landline services are available, to which few in Myanmar have access.

“Myanmar has been the subject of a gradual collapse in the information abyss since February,” Alp Toker, founder of the Internet blocking observatory NetBlocks, told Reuters.

“Communications are now very limited and only available to a few.”

With the print media also stalled, protesters have sought solutions to get their message across, producing daily A4-sized newsletters that are digitally shared and printed for distribution to the public.

Arrest warrants have been issued for hundreds of people, whose board goes this week after dozens of influencers, artists, performers and musicians.

The country’s most famous comic, Zarganar, was arrested on Tuesday, media reported.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab discussed how Britain and the international community could support a Southeast Asian effort to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said after meet his British counterpart in Jakarta.

Indonesia is one of the countries in Southeast Asia that is leading the push for high-level talks on Myanmar.

Western countries, including the United States, Britain, and Australia, have imposed or tightened sanctions on generals and the army’s huge network of business monopolies in response to the coup, arrests and the use of lethal force against protesters.

The European Union is expected to remain the same.

Russia, which has shown support for Myanmar’s ruling military council, said on Tuesday that the West risked provoking civil war by imposing sanctions on the junta.

Fitch Solutions said in a report released Wednesday that Western-directed sanctions alone could not succeed in restoring democracy. He predicted in the medium term a violent revolution by pitting the military against an armed opposition made up of members of the anti-coup movement and ethnic militias.

Some ethnic minority forces, which control large swathes of border regions, have said they cannot stand by as the junta kills people and has already engaged the military in skirmishes.

Fitch said Myanmar was heading for a failed state.

“The escalation of violence against civilians and ethnic militias shows that the Tatmadaw (military) are increasingly losing control of the country,” he said, adding that the vast majority of people supported Suu’s ousted government. Kyi.