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NAYPYIDAW: Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas at anti-coup protesters in Myanmar’s capital on Tuesday (February 9), as protesters across the country defied the military ban on demonstrations.
The protests broke out for the fourth day in a row against last week’s coup to oust civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, despite the new junta’s warning that they would crack down on demonstrations that threatened “stability.”
In Naypyidaw, the remote capital built by the previous military regime, witnesses said that police fired rubber bullets at protesters after shooting them with water cannons.
“They fired two warning shots into the sky, then they shot (the protesters) with rubber bullets,” a resident told AFP, adding that he saw some people injured.
An AFP reporter on the ground confirmed that shots had been fired.
In Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
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After seeing hundreds of thousands of people demonstrate in opposition to last week’s coup, the head of the junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, delivered a televised speech on Monday night to justify the seizure of power.
The military has banned gatherings of more than five people in Yangon, the nation’s commercial center, as well as in Naypyidaw and other areas across the country where large demonstrations have broken out, including the second-largest city of Mandalay.
A night curfew has also been imposed at the hotspots of the protests.
But on Tuesday, new protests erupted in various parts of Yangon, including near the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained by the military.
On Tuesday, Myanmar authorities expanded the areas where meetings are restricted to more parts of the country, the military information unit said.
Areas where public gatherings of more than five people are prohibited and a curfew has been imposed include the Yangon Mall, the capital Naypyidaw, as well as some cities in the Magwe region, Kachin state, the state of Kayah, Mon state and Shan state. said the Facebook page of the army’s information unit True News.
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A witness told Reuters that the protesters fled when guns were fired into the air, but not in the direction of the crowd.
The witness said police initially used water cannons and tried to push back a large crowd, but the protesters responded with projectiles.
Images on social media showed people running, with the sound of several gunshots in the distance.
