More mass protests in Myanmar despite threats of violence – Politics –

The protesters included Buddhist officials, doctors and monks. It was reportedly largely peaceful at first.

“It is really strange today. The police did not block any of the marches in Rangoon,” wrote local journalist Mratt Kyaw Thu on Twitter. “Young people are protesting peacefully and even more fashionable than in recent days,” he emphasized in the face of increasingly creative rallies.

In Yangon, the largest metropolis and the oldest capital, more than 100 young women in gorgeous evening dresses marched through the streets like Disney princesses. “We want to show that young women are also participating in the protests. We thought these outfits were the most obvious way to do this,” said a protester quoted by the “Frontier Myanmar” portal.

Elsewhere, a demonstration of muscular bodybuilders protesting shirtless could be seen, as videos showed on social media. In Myawaddy, health workers took to the streets in green surgical suits. It was the fifth consecutive day of protests.

Observers reported on Twitter that police officers had joined protesters in many places and also spoke out against the junta, for example in the eastern city of Loikaw. “We are on the side of the people,” read the posters. The photos showed police officers displaying the three-finger salute that had already become a symbol of resistance during protests critical of the government in Thailand last year.

The mass protests have not stopped since the weekend. On Tuesday, security forces reacted with violence for the first time, using water cannons and rubber bullets. It should also have been fired hard. Many were injured, one woman was shot in the head and is reportedly in critical condition. There were also hundreds of arrests on Tuesday. Dozens of detainees were released in the northern city of Mandalay on Wednesday, the Myanmar Times newspaper wrote.

Fears of a massive crackdown by the police continue to grow. Since Monday night, curfews between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. and a ban on gathering for more than five people have been in place in areas heavily affected by the protests. In the past, the military had always brutally suppressed any resistance.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has not been seen since she was arrested on the night of February 1. He is said to be under house arrest. On Tuesday night, security forces broke into the headquarters of his National League for Democracy (NLD) and searched them.

“Both informal and formal attempts” were made to reach Suu Kyi in the days after the coup, State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news conference. “These efforts were rejected.” Currently, the international community is doing everything possible to ensure that democracy and civilian leadership are restored, Price said.