Protesters returned to the streets of Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday after the most violent day so far in demonstrations against a military coup that removed civil leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Tuesday, tens of thousands marched in major cities and smaller towns across the country, challenging the ban on settlements in some areas, with police using water cannons, rubber bullets and live shots at them.
A woman was hit in the head by a bullet and was in critical condition and was expected to die, said a doctor in Naypyidaw. She was injured when police fired shots, mostly into the air, to drive protesters out of the capital. Three other people were being treated for injuries caused by rubber bullets, doctors said.
The United States and the United Nations have condemned the use of force against protesters, who demand the reversal of the coup and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained leaders of their National League for Democracy (NLD) and activists.
“We cannot be quiet,” young leader Esther Ze Naw told Reuters on Wednesday. “If there is blood spilled during our peaceful protests, there will be more if we let them take over the country.”
In Naypyitaw, hundreds of government officials marched in support of a campaign of civil disobedience to which doctors, teachers and railroad workers, among others, joined.
Protesters were also injured in Mandalay and other cities, where security forces also used water cannons. State media reported injuries to the police during attempts to disperse the protesters, who were accused of throwing stones and bricks.
The US State Department said it was reviewing assistance to Myanmar to ensure that those responsible for the coup face “significant consequences”.
“We repeat our calls for the military to renounce power, restore the democratically elected government, release detainees and lift all telecommunications restrictions and avoid violence,” said spokesman Ned Price in Washington.
The United Nations calls on Myanmar’s security forces to respect people’s right to protest peacefully. “The use of disproportionate force against protesters is unacceptable,” said Ola Almgren, a UN representative in Myanmar.
The protests are the biggest in Myanmar in more than a decade, reliving memories of almost half a century of direct government by the army and spasms of bloody uprisings until the military began a process of withdrawal from civil policy in 2011.
The Political Prisoner Assistance Association said almost 60 people were arrested in Myanmar on Tuesday.
Myanmar’s army took power by citing unfounded allegations of fraud in a November 8 election that Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party overwhelmingly won. The electoral commission rejected the army’s complaints.
On Tuesday night, police raided the NLD headquarters in Yangon during the military-imposed curfew hours. The operation was carried out by about a dozen police officers, who broke into the building in the commercial capital after dark, elected lawmakers said.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s party was due to begin a second term on the day of the coup.
Along with the protests, a civil disobedience movement affected hospitals, schools and government offices. Officials at the electricity and energy ministry in Naypyitaw were among the last to join the civil disobedience movement on Wednesday.
The protesters’ demands now go beyond reversing the coup.
They also seek to abolish a 2008 constitution drafted under military supervision that gave generals the veto in parliament and control of various ministries, and for a federal system in Myanmar with ethnic diversity.
Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy and spent almost 15 years under house arrest.
The 75-year-old man faces charges of illegal importation of six walkie-talkies and is being held until February 15. Her lawyer said he was not allowed to see her.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains very popular at home, despite the damage to his international reputation due to the plight of the Muslim minority Rohingya.