Protesters take part in a demonstration against the military coup in front of the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, on February 12, 2021.
STR | AFP | Getty Images
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar’s major cities on Sunday for a ninth day of protests against the coup, after a formidable night as residents formed patrols and the army passed laws protecting them. the freedoms.
Engineering students marched through the center of Yangon, the largest city, dressed in white and holding banners demanding the release of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the Myanmar army overthrew his government. elected February 1st.
Part of the largest street protests in more than a decade, a fleet of buses rolled slowly through the city ringing their horns in protest.
A convoy with motorcycles and cars crossed the capital Naypyitaw. In the southeastern coastal town of Dawei, a band played drums in the shadows cast by awnings as crowds marched under the hot sun. In Waimaw, at the northern end of Kachin State, on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, crowds carried flags and sang revolutionary songs.
Many of the protesters across the country kept pictures of Suu Kyi’s face.
His arrest, accused of importing walkie-talkies, will expire on Monday. His lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, was unable to contact him to comment on what was expected to happen.
More than 384 people have been detained since the coup, the Political Prisoners Assistance Association watchdog group said, in a wave of arrests mostly at night.
“While the international community condemns the coup, Min Aung Hlaing uses all the tools he has to instigate fears and instabilities,” activist Wai Hnin Pwint Thon of Britain’s UK-based rights group Burma said on Twitter. Campaign UK, in reference to the head of the army. .
“Stop kidnapping people”
Many protesters in Yangon carried placards urging authorities to “stop kidnapping people at night.”
Residents gathered on Saturday afternoon to patrol the streets of Yangon and the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay, for fear of raids and common crimes after the board ordered the release of thousands of prisoners. .
In different neighborhoods, groups of young people mostly crashed into pots and pans to sound the alarm as they chased after what they believed to be suspicious characters.
Concerns about criminal activity have skyrocketed since Friday, when the Board announced it would release 23,000 prisoners, saying the measure was to “establish a new democratic state with peace, development and discipline” and “please the public.” ”.
Unverified images on social media have fueled rumors that criminals are trying to provoke unrest by causing fires or poisoning the water supply.
Tin Myint, a resident of Sanchaung Township in Yangon, was among the crowds that arrested a group of four people suspected of having carried out an attack in the neighborhood.
“We believe the military intends to cause violence with these criminals by infiltrating them in peaceful protests,” he said.
He cited pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, when the military was widely accused of freeing criminals from the population to carry out attacks, and later cited riots as justification for expanding its own power.
Three people from different parts of Yangon said they had seen drones hovering above the crowds. “He flew up and down and filmed the crowd chasing the thieves,” said Htet, 30, who asked that he only identify with one name.
The government and army could not be reached for comment.
Also on Saturday afternoon, the army reinstated a law requiring people to report visitors spending the night at their home, allowed security forces to detain suspects and search private property without judicial approval, and ordered the arrest of well-known sponsors of the mass protests.
The coup has been denounced by Western countries, with the United States announcing some sanctions to ruling generals and other countries also studying measures.