Myanmar military raids Aung San Suu Kyi’s party offices as UN criticizes violence

YANGON: Myanmar’s military raided the Yangon headquarters of the party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi late on Tuesday (February 9), officials said, as the United States joined the UN in “forcefully” condemning violence against the protesters demanding a return to democracy.

The latest assault on Myanmar’s civilian leadership came as anger over last week’s coup and the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi by generals has brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets, defying the prohibition of demonstrations by the military government.

“The military dictator raided and destroyed the NLD headquarters at around 9:30 pm,” announced the National League for Democracy on its Facebook page.

The party’s brief statement did not elaborate.

The raid came after protests broke out for the fourth day in a row Tuesday, with police using water cannons in several cities, firing rubber bullets at protesters in the capital, Naypyidaw, and firing tear gas in Mandalay.

The demonstrations came despite a warning from the military government that it would take action against demonstrations that threatened “stability” and a new ban on gatherings of more than five people.

The United States, which has led global censorship of the coup, renewed its call for freedom of expression in Myanmar and the resignation of the generals on Tuesday.

“We strongly condemn the violence against protesters,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, adding that people in Myanmar “have the right to assemble peacefully.”

“We reiterate our calls for the military to relinquish power, restore a democratically elected government, release the detainees and lift all telecommunications restrictions and refrain from violence,” he said.

Price has previously said that US requests to speak with Aung San Suu Kyi had been denied.

SHOOTING OF TWO PROTESTERS

As night fell, the United Nations also expressed “great concern” about the violence.

“The use of disproportionate force against the protesters is unacceptable,” said Ola Almgren, UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that the bloc could impose new sanctions on the Myanmar military, but warned that any punishment should not affect the population.

“We are currently reviewing all of our options,” Borrell told lawmakers in the European Parliament.

In Naypyidaw, the remote capital expressly built by the previous military regime, witnesses said that police fired projectiles at protesters after shooting them with water cannons.

“They fired warning shots into the sky twice, then they shot (the protesters) with rubber bullets,” one resident told AFP.

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At least one ER doctor said the military was also using actual rounds, leaving a 23-year-old man and a 19-year-old in critical condition in hospital.

“We think they are live bullets because of the wounds and their wounds,” said the doctor.

The father of one of the victims said that his son had been shot “when he tried to use the megaphone to ask people to protest peacefully after police used water cannons to disperse them.”

“They hit him on the back … I’m very worried about him,” the 56-year-old goldsmith told AFP.

In Mandalay, the second-largest city in the country, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.

‘WE ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE’

One witness, who declined to be identified for fear of authorities, said she sheltered about 20 protesters, offering them clean water, towels and face masks.

Earlier this week, protests by hundreds of thousands appeared to have rocked the military, and the military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, delivered a televised speech on Monday to justify the seizure of power, citing allegations of election fraud.

He promised things would be different from the army’s previous 49-year reign, which ended in 2011. The army also announced a curfew and a ban on protest meetings.

But on Tuesday, new demonstrations broke out in Yangon, including near the NLD headquarters, with protesters holding banners calling for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and declaring “No to dictatorship.”

By the afternoon, thousands of people had gathered nearby, carrying umbrellas and raincoats as they confronted the police, who had trucks with water cannons blocking the march of the protesters.

“Of course we are concerned (about a crackdown),” said Professor Khin Thida Nyein, a protester. “We only have one life, but we still come out of the closet … as we are more concerned about the future of our children.”

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The protesters dispersed at dusk, with no reports of clashes.

Meanwhile, civil aviation workers and air traffic controllers have joined a civil disobedience movement, with their strike scheduled to impact international flights that want to pass through Myanmar’s airspace.

It will also affect the coffers of the military government, which will lose the overflight fees paid by airlines that could be worth up to US $ 182,000 per day.

MILITARY PROMISES

The NLD won the national elections in November by an overwhelming majority, but the military never accepted the results.

He has announced a state of emergency for one year and promised to hold new elections after that.

New Zealand on Tuesday became the first foreign government to take concrete public action, announcing the suspension of high-level military and political contacts with Myanmar.

The UN Human Rights Council said it would hold a relatively rare special session on Friday to discuss the crisis.