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NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: Myanmar’s military will on Saturday (March 27) put on a major show of force for the annual Armed Forces Day, as it struggles to quell widespread protests against its government weeks after taking power.
The country has been in crisis since generals toppled and detained civilian ruler Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, sparking a major uprising demanding a return to democracy.
Anti-coup activists have called for a new round of protests on Saturday, when the military will stage a parade of personnel and firepower in the capital, Naypyidaw.
Past processions have seen troops and armor, including tanks, planes and missiles, parade past the army chief and now the junta chief, General Min Aung Hlaing.
READ: Myanmar activists call for Armed Forces Day protests
Fears have arisen that the day, which commemorates the start of the Burmese army’s resistance to Japanese occupation in World War II, could become a flash point for unrest.
Prominent activist Ei Thinzar Maung urged protesters to take to the streets on Saturday.
“The time has come again to fight the oppression of the military,” he wrote on Facebook.
The security forces have increasingly cracked down on anti-coup demonstrations with lethal force in recent weeks, using tear gas, rubber bullets and live bullets to break up the demonstrations.
The Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring group, says 328 people have been killed and more than 3,000 arrested since the coup.
On Friday, Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison released 322 people detained for protests, adding to more than 600 released earlier in the week.
READ: Myanmar junta warns protesters that they risk being shot in the head: state television
Myanmar has been in crisis since generals overthrew and detained civilian ruler Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, sparking a major uprising demanding a return to democracy AFP / STR
NOMINATION TO THE NOBEL PRIZE
The protest movement has also included widespread strikes and civil disobedience by government workers, which have paralyzed the functioning of the state.
This has angered authorities, who arrested people suspected of supporting the movement, often in nightly raids on homes.
But the protest movement, adding to a COVID-19 pandemic that hit Myanmar hard, also affected the country’s economy.
The World Bank has warned that the country will face a huge 10 percent drop in GDP in 2021.
The brutality of the repression has horrified international powers, which have responded with criticism and sanctions.
LEE: Myanmar sees more protests as the death toll exceeds 300
READ: Firebomb attack on Aung San Suu Kyi party headquarters in Myanmar
On Thursday, the United States and Britain, the nation’s former colonial ruler, imposed sanctions on a conglomerate owned by the Myanmar military.
So far, diplomatic pressure has had little impact, and Washington and London hope that hitting the military’s financial interests will pay dividends.
The armed forces dominate many key sectors of Myanmar’s economy, including commerce, natural resources, alcohol, cigarettes, and consumer goods.
The civil disobedience movement got a boost on Friday when a group of Norwegian academics nominated it for the Nobel Peace Prize, won in 1991 by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The army has defended its takeover, citing allegations of fraud in the November elections that Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won by an overwhelming majority.
