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Security forces in Myanmar pointed guns at anti-coup protesters and attacked them with sticks on Monday (local time), seeking to quell large-scale demonstrations calling for the military junta that took power earlier this month to reinstate government. elect.
More than 1,000 protesters demonstrated in front of the Myanmar Economic Bank in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, when at least 10 trucks full of soldiers and police arrived and immediately began slingshots at protesters, according to a photographer who witnessed the acts. .
Later, soldiers and police attacked the protesters with sticks, and police could be seen pointing long guns into the air amid sounds that resembled gunshots. Local media reported that rubber bullets were also fired into the crowd and that some people were injured.
Police were also seen pointing guns at protesters.
In the capital, Naypyitaw, protesters gathered in front of a police station to demand the release of a group of high school students who were arrested while participating in anti-coup activities.
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A student who managed to escape told reporters that the students, who are believed to be between 13 and 16 years old, were peacefully demonstrating when a line of riot police suddenly arrived and began arresting them. It was not clear exactly how many students were rounded, but estimates put the figure between 20 and 40.
AP
Protesters raise their hands with clenched fists during an anti-coup rally in front of the Myanmar Economic Bank in Mandalay, Myanmar.
Earlier Monday, Myanmar’s military leaders extended their detention of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose pre-trial detention was scheduled to expire on Monday and whose release is a key demand from the crowds of people who continue to protest the military coup in this month.
Suu Kyi will now be in pre-trial detention until February 17, when she will likely appear in court by video conference, according to Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer who was asked by Suu Kyi’s party to represent her.
The Nobel laureate remains under house arrest on a misdemeanor charge of possession of unregistered imported walkie-talkies.
AP
Myanmar’s military leaders have extended the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose pretrial detention was scheduled to expire on Monday, as protests continued to shake the Southeast Asian country following a military coup earlier this month.
Suu Kyi’s prolonged detention is likely to further inflame tensions between the military, who seized power in a coup on February 1, and protesters who have taken to the streets of cities across the Southeast Asian nation in search of the return of the government they elected.
When the army seized power, it detained Suu Kyi and members of her government and prevented newly elected lawmakers from opening a new session of Parliament.
The board, led by Major General Min Aung Hlaing, said it intervened because the government failed to properly investigate allegations of fraud in last year’s election.
AP
Anti-coup protesters show the three-finger salute and hold signs reading “Join the CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement)” as they pose for a photo on the back of an armored personnel carrier in Myanmar.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won overwhelmingly.
The state electoral commission refuted that claim, saying there is no evidence to support it.
The military justified their move by citing a clause in the 2008 constitution, implemented during the military government, which says that in cases of national emergency, the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government can be handed over to the military commander-in-chief.
AP
An anti-coup protester holds a poster with a picture of the deposed Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration in front of the Myanmar Central Bank building in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday.
It is just one of many parts of the letter that ensured that the military could maintain final control over the country that it ruled for 50 years after the 1962 coup.
The army can appoint its members to 25% of the seats in Parliament and controls several key ministries involved in security and defense.
An order on Sunday that appeared to be from the Ministry of Transport and Communications told mobile phone service providers to shut down Internet connections from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday.
AP
An anti-coup protester dressed in a Batman costume holds up a sign that reads: “End the dictatorship in Myanmar” while standing in a vehicle parked next to an APC.
It circulated widely on social media, as did an ad from service provider Oredoo Myanmar containing the same details.
On Sunday, the ambassadors of the United States and Canada and 12 European nations called on Myanmar’s security forces to refrain from exercising violence against those “protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government.”
They condemned the arrests of political leaders and activists, as well as the interference of the army in communications.
AP
The army is taking steps to suppress the protests.
“We support the people of Myanmar in their quest for democracy, freedom, peace and prosperity,” they said in a joint statement issued Sunday night.
“The world is watching.”
