YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Hundreds of people arrested for protesting last month’s coup in Myanmar were released on Wednesday, a rare conciliatory gesture by the military that seemed to aim to placate the protest movement.
Witnesses outside the Insein Prison in Yangon saw buses full of young people, mostly looking happy with the three-fingered defiance gesture adopted by the protesters. State TV said 628 were released.
Also on Wednesday, Thein Zaw, a journalist for The Associated Press who was arrested last month while covering an anti-coup protest, was released.
Myanmar’s security forces violently repressed protests against the February 1 coup that reversed a decade of progress towards democracy in the Southeast Asian country and overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The independent Prison Assistance Association Politicians say at least 275 people have been killed in connection with the crackdown. Thousands were also arrested and more than 2,000 remain in custody or have charges pending against them.
Wednesday’s release was an unusual opening by the military, which until now seemed immune to internal pressure from protests and external pressure from sanctions. In the face of increasingly brutal repression, protesters tried a new tactic on Wednesday, which they dubbed a silence strike, calling on people to stay home and businesses to close during the day.
The released prisoners appear to be the hundreds of students detained in early March. A lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity because she fears getting the attention of the authorities, said all those released were arrested on March 3. She said that only 55 people detained in connection with the protests remained in prison, and they are likely to face charges under a law that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.
The mass release came on the same day that Thein Zaw was also released. Thein Zaw told the AP that the judge in his case announced during a hearing that all charges against him were dropped because he was doing his job at the time of his arrest.
“I’m looking forward to meeting my family,” he said. “I am sorry for some colleagues who are still in prison.”
Meanwhile, online messages urged people to stay home on Wednesday in protest – instead of flooding the streets as in the past – saying that silence is “the loudest cry.” The messages explained that the aim of the strike was to honor the fallen heroes of the movement, allow protesters to recharge their batteries and contradict the junta’s claims that “everything is back to normal”.
The extent of the strike was difficult to assess, but social media users posted pictures of cities and towns showing the streets empty of activity, except for an occasional stray dog. Some protesters went out to drop red balloons with leaflets attached.
The new tactic was used after a prolonged attack of violence by the security forces.
Local media reported that a 7-year-old girl in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, was among the latest victims on Tuesday. The Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners has included it in its list of fatal victims.
“Khin Myo Chit was shot in the abdomen by a soldier while sitting on his father’s lap inside his home in the ward of Aung Pin Le,” reported the online news service Myanmar Now, citing his sister, Aye Chan San.
The report said the shooting occurred when soldiers were breaking into homes in his family’s neighborhood. The sister said a soldier shot her father when he denied anyone was hiding in his home, and hit the girl.
Aye Chan San said the soldiers beat his 19-year-old brother with the butt of his rifles and took him away.
Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the United Nations is “extremely concerned about the death of a 7-year-old child in his home by security forces”.
“There must be responsibility for all the crimes and violations of human rights that continue to be perpetrated in Myanmar,” he said.
Haq said U, N. observed reports of the release of hundreds of protesters and remained concerned about the ongoing arrests by the military, including journalists and civil society leaders.
The UN called for “the release of all detainees arbitrarily, including President U Win Myint and State Councilor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Haq.
He said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener “will continue to mobilize international action for the restoration of democracy and human rights in Myanmar”.