YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – At least two people protesting last month’s military coup were shot and killed by security forces on Tuesday after a morning of peaceful marches in parts of Myanmar.
Security forces have killed many of their compatriots in the past few days, and the UN has calculated the death toll across the country at 149 since the February 1 coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.
The independent Political Prisoner Assistance Association said 183 people had been killed since the coup.
The violence was reported on Tuesday in the largest city, Yangon, where the victims were the biggest. Police fired rubber bullets in several neighborhoods and a man was killed. Another murder was reported in the city of Kawlin, in the northwest region of Sagaing.
UN Human Rights Office spokesman Ravina Shamdasani said at least 11 people were killed on Monday, adding up to 57 deaths over the weekend. Although there have been many more reports of murders, it has not been possible to corroborate them.
“The murder of protesters, arbitrary arrests and the reporting of torture of prisoners violate fundamental human rights and clearly challenge the Security Council’s calls for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar’s democratic path,” said the Burmese general secretary. UN, António Guterres.
The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades suffered under strict military rule that led to isolation and international sanctions.
Protesters in some areas recently used tactics to avoid violent clashes. On Tuesday, social media reports said that pre-dawn candlelight marches were held in Mawlamyaing, in the state of Mon, in southeastern Myanmar.
Another tactic has been to use signs as proxies for human protesters, queuing them up in public places. It was reported that this tactic was used by a group of engineers in the second largest city, Mandalay, in central Myanmar.
More conventional peaceful protests of the kind that take place daily were held without incident on Tuesday in Monywa and Ye-U in central Myanmar, in the city of Loikaw in the eastern state of Kayaw and in Kalaw in the southern state of Shan, also in the east.
To complicate efforts to organize new protests, as well as media coverage, cell phone internet service was cut off on Sunday night, although access was still available over fixed broadband connections.
The mobile data service was used to broadcast live video coverage of the protests, often showing security forces attacking protesters. Previously, he had been turned off only from 1 am to 9 am for several weeks, with no official explanation.
Sunday’s violence in Yangon – virtually all police – led to the highest death toll in a day since the coup. Myanmar’s governing board declared martial law in much of the city.
Martial law announcements state that the junta, formally called the State Administrative Council, acted to increase security and restore law and order, and that the Yangon regional commander was given administrative, judicial and military powers in the area under his command. . Orders cover six of Yangon’s 33 districts.
The greatest violence and most deaths were reported in the Hlaing Thar Yar municipality in Yangon, an industrial area with many factories that supply the clothing industry, an important export product to Myanmar. Several factories, many of which are owned by Chinese, were set on fire by unknown parties on Sunday, sparking Beijing’s ire.
Thousands of local residents in cars, taxis, pickup trucks, motorcycles and congested roads on foot outside the area on Tuesday. Some sought security, while others no longer have jobs.
Protesters last week reacted to increased police violence by taking a more aggressive approach to self-defense, burning tires on barricades and reacting when they can against attacks.
The Representative Committee of Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw, composed of elected members of Parliament who were not authorized to take their seats, said on Sunday that the general public has a legal right to self-defense against security forces.
CRPH, which operates clandestinely within the country and with representatives abroad, has established itself as a parallel government that claims to be the only legitimate representative body of the citizens of Myanmar. An illegal traitor organization has been declared by the junta.
State television MRTV announced late on Tuesday that a major CRPH figure, known as Dr. Sasa, has been accused of high treason, which carries a death sentence.
Sasa, a doctor who uses a single name, is a member of the Chin ethnic minority and has been appointed as a UN special envoy by CRPH, is accused of inciting an internal conflict and acting against the junta, which she claims to be the only legitimate governing body, despite of overthrowing an elected government.
Sasa is the public face of Myanmar’s resistance in the international arena, although it is supposed to be hiding. He has spoken frequently with the international press by videoconference. He also connected by video with foreign diplomats, UN officials and other opponents of the junta, including members of ethnic minorities who maintain their own guerrilla armies.
The state newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported that the head of the junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, told colleagues that the protests had turned into “turmoil and violence”.
Speaking at a Monday meeting of the junta in the capital, Naypyitaw, Min Aung Hlaing was quoted as saying that the military was helping the police “as a rearguard in places needed to resolve difficulties and obstacles”.
“Although there have been fewer protests, violent acts have arisen in some areas, such as burning public properties and factories. So, the security forces had to deal with the situation a lot, ”says the report. “The protesters broke into police stations and administrative offices and set fire to factories. Meanwhile, the shooting had to disperse protesters, resulting in some security forces and deaths of protesters. “
Virtually all independent accounts blame the security forces for initiating violence against unarmed protesters.
Many protesters have asked for foreign intervention to help them under the Responsibility to Protect – R2P – doctrine designed to address issues such as genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
The UN and other regional bodies and nations have called for measures to reconcile the demonstrators and the military and end the violence. Several Western countries have applied sanctions against generals and their business contacts, but the junta is confident that it can withstand the pressure, especially with China as a diplomatic ally that can block UN coordinated action and make up for a lack of aid and investment. .
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tokyo for talks with Japanese officials explained that Washington wants to promote democratic principles in Myanmar, as it does elsewhere.
“We believe in democracy and human rights, the rule of law, because we have seen how stronger our own countries are, why we adhere to these values and why they are under threat in many places, including in this region,” he said. said. “In Burma, the military is trying to overturn the results of a democratic election and is brutally repressing peaceful protests.” The United States calls Myanmar by its old name, Burma, which was changed by a previous military regime.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said after his bilateral meeting with Blinken that they shared “strong concern” about the situation in Myanmar, especially attacks on peaceful demonstrations.
“There have been casualties among civilians and we are strongly concerned with development,” he said, adding that they demand that Myanmar release Suu Kyi immediately and restore a democratic system.
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Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.