The forces of the military junta cornered hundreds of people in the municipality of Sanchaung, in the country’s largest city, and threatened to go door to door to hunt them down, Reuters reported. Police fired guns and used shock grenades while protesters sought shelter in nearby buildings.
Local media reported that 27 people were arrested in Sanchaung on Monday night. CNN was unable to independently confirm whether any protesters were arrested.
The move sparked calls from the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations for the police and military to allow some 200 demonstrators protected by barricades to leave the area. Thousands of people attended the streets and neighborhoods nearby in solidarity and challenging the night curfew.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, activists said the arrested protesters managed to leave Sanchuang district after security forces left and the curfew was lifted. Military trucks and security forces were seen leaving around 2 am and protesters started to leave after 4 am. The volunteers were on hand to give protesters a free ride home.
But security forces responded with increasing violence and brutality. Witnesses reported extrajudicial killings and nightly raids, while images and photographs show police and military personnel shooting dead anti-coup protesters and beating detainees. At least 54 people died in the crackdown on protests, including many teenagers and young people, according to the UN.
In Sanchaung on Monday, protesters came to celebrate International Women’s Day and to “fly” their Htamains (sarong) as part of the anti-junta movement.
Activist Maung Saungkha said there were exchanges of cats and rats throughout the day between the police and the protesters, who hurried to the buildings to hide while security forces tried to disperse them. By 6 pm, 200 young protesters realized that the police had blocked them in a small area and refused to allow them – or anyone else – to leave, he said.
“Three streets were blocked by police and soldiers. Even though the owners of the building were ordinary people who live in Sanchaung, even these people were not allowed to leave,” he said.
People were scared and heard security forces shout that they would come from building to building to arrest them, he said.
The building in which Maung Saungkha was hiding had an emergency exit so that he could leave the area. But many of his friends remained in prison until dawn.
“I felt guilty all night,” said Maung Saungkha, of the Nationality Strike Committee protest group, which represents ethnic minorities. “I feel that I am not only responsible for myself, but also for my colleagues.”
He believes that security forces have only retreated because of pressure from the UN and international embassies, which called for restraint and the release of protesters.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “calls for maximum restraint and the safe release of all, without violence or imprisonment”.
The British embassy in Myanmar tweeted that it was aware of the “ongoing situation in Sanchaung” and urged “security forces to allow all civilians to leave immediately, without threat of violence or imprisonment”.
Revoked media licenses
The stalemate occurred when the military junta revoked the licenses of five independent media outlets that had been fearlessly reporting the coup and subsequent protests.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information announced on state television on Monday evening that Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Khit Thit, Myanmar Now and 7Day News have been “removed from their publishing license and (have been) banned from using any media for news purposes. “
The director of DVB operations in Yangon, Toe Zaw Latt, said the order meant that they were no longer officially recognized as media organizations nor were they allowed to broadcast or publish on any platform.
“This is not going to stop us,” said Toe Zaw Latt.
Mizzima also continued to stream footage of the protests on its YouTube channel on Tuesday. On Monday, the group confirmed on its website that the military had revoked its license.
DVB was one of several media organizations forced to operate outside the country for years under military rule. Formed in 1992 by democracy activists, the organization directed its operations from Oslo, Norway, with a network of clandestine reporters in Myanmar and an office in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which provided a window into what was one of the most vulnerable nations. isolated from the world.
When the military began opening Myanmar in 2011 under Thein Sein’s quasi-civil government and embarked on a series of reforms, including the abolition of pre-publication censorship, exiled media groups began to return to the country cautiously.
“From the beginning, our strategy was a ‘one foot on one foot’ situation, as we never trust the military. And the military never trusted the independent media. We are a loveless arranged marriage,” said Toe Zaw Latt.
Paul Donowitz, campaign leader in Myanmar for human rights group Global Witness, said the media crackdown showed the military was “trying to get the country back to its darkest days”.
“These five news outlets are a fundamental part of the Myanmar independent media landscape and provide vital information for the people of Myanmar. Independent reporting is even more important in the current context, helping to contain the military’s disinformation campaigns and provide information to the public and to activists objective reports of what is really happening after the coup, “he said.
When the military took control of the country last month, one of the first acts of the coup leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, was to shut down independent TV channels. Since then, journalists have been among the 1,857 people detained by junta forces – including two DVB reporters.
“Clearly there will be more journalist targets on the ground and we expect more arrests. Our main concern is how we can manage the security of our team. At the same time, we need to report,” said Toe Zaw Latt.
Going back into exile may be a possibility, he said, but for now DVB will continue to report on as many platforms as it can. “The coup cannot stop our (reports) … there is no way we can stop now,” he said.