(Reuters) – U.S. and allied leaders India, Australia and Japan vowed on Friday to work together to restore democracy in Myanmar, where violence has escalated as coup leaders try to disrupt a broad movement of protests and civil disobedience.
Within Myanmar, security forces continued to crack down on opposition to the acquisition of the army on 1 February. In at least one case, they forced patients out of a hospital.
A day after the deaths of twelve people on one of the bloodiest days since the coup, the former British colonial power warned its citizens to leave, saying that “political tension and unrest have been widespread since the ‘military acquisition and violence levels rise’.
The coup in Myanmar, where the military maintains close ties with China, is an important initial test for new US President Joe Biden.
His administration noted Friday’s virtual meeting with Indian, Japanese and Australian leaders, the first official summit of the leaders of a group known as the Quad, as part of an effort to demonstrate a renewed U.S. commitment to regional security.
“As long-time supporters of Myanmar and its people, we emphasize the urgent need to restore democracy and the priority of strengthening democratic resilience,” the four leaders said in a statement released by the White House.
More than 70 protesters have been killed in the Southeast Asian nation since the military took power, the Association of Political Prisoners Assistance Association (AAPP) said.
Memories were kept for some of them on Friday, including a man whose family said the body had been taken by security forces and not returned.
A board spokesman did not respond to Reuters calls seeking comment.
South Korea said Friday it would suspend defense exchanges and reconsider development aid to Myanmar because of the violence. The Kremlin said Russia, which maintains close ties with the Myanmar army, was concerned about growing violence and was “analyzing” whether to suspend technical or military co-operation.
“We assess the situation as alarming and concerned about the growing number of civilian casualties coming from there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.
Protests were held in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, and several other cities on Friday, according to photos posted on social media by witnesses and news organizations. Many were dispersed by security forces.
Poland’s foreign ministry said a Polish journalist had been arrested, the second foreign journalist to be arrested. A Japanese journalist was briefly arrested while covering a protest.
Riot police and armed soldiers entered Hakha General Hospital in eastern western Chin, forcing the 30 patients to leave and evicting housing staff, local activist Salai Lian said.
VIGILATION
Soldiers have been occupying hospitals and universities in Myanmar as they try to undo a civil disobedience movement that began with government employees such as doctors and teachers, but has expanded into a general strike that has paralyzed many sectors of the world. economy.
In the evening, numerous crowds gathered to make vigils in the evening. In Yangon, the commercial capital, they lit candles in the form of a three-fingered salute, the symbol of the movement, while monks dressed in saffron gathered outside a pagoda in the northern Sagaing region.
The country has been in crisis since the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi last month, arrested it and set up a governing board of generals.
Board spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said on Thursday that Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments, adding corruption charges to a number of minor charges against her, such as the illegal importation of six radios. walkie-talkie.
“This accusation is the funniest joke,” Suu Kyi’s lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said on social media on Friday. “He may have other weaknesses, but he has no weakness in the moral principle.”
UN human rights researcher Thomas Andrews on Friday dismissed “absurd” comments from a senior Myanmar official that authorities were exercising “maximum restraint”. Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, he called for a unified approach to “eliminating the Board’s sense of impunity.”
Reuters staff reports; Written by Ed Davies, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Poppy McPherson; Edited by Lincoln Feast, Clarence Fernandez, Catherine Evans and Peter Graff