MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) – Residents of Myanmar’s second largest city helped strike railway workers to leave their state-provided homes on Saturday after authorities said they would have to leave if they continued to support the protest movement against the military coup. last month.
Mandalay residents transported workers’ furniture and other household items to trucks, van and pickup trucks.
State railroaders went on strike last month as the main supporters of the civil disobedience movement against the February 1 coup that overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The military regime tried to force them back to work through intimidation , which included a night gun patrol last month in its residential area in Mandalay and a raid on the railway workers’ housing area in Yangon.
Protests against the coup continued on Saturday in cities and towns across the country, including Mandalay and Yangon.
The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in Myanmar, after five decades of military rule. In the face of persistent strikes and protests against the takeover, the junta responded with increasingly violent repression and efforts to severely limit information reaching the outside world.
Internet access was severely restricted, private newspapers were prevented from publishing, and protesters, journalists and politicians were arrested in large numbers.
The Association of Independent Assistance for Political Prisoners verified 235 deaths and said that the actual total – including those where verification was difficult – “is probably much higher”. He said he confirmed that 2,330 people had been arrested or charged since the coup, with 1,980 still detained or charged.
In addition to using lethal force to try to stop the demonstrations, security forces have been campaigning for harassment, stealing houses they invade, said the group, which also accused security forces of using people they arrested as human shields. they sought to stop the demonstrations.
Numerous reports on social media, including videos, showed security forces vandalizing cars parked on the street.
UN agencies, UNICEF and UNESCO, together with the private humanitarian group Save the Children, released on Friday a statement criticizing the occupation by security forces of education facilities across Myanmar as a serious violation of children’s rights.
According to the report, security forces reportedly occupied more than 60 schools and university campuses in 13 states and regions.
“This will aggravate the learning crisis of almost 12 million children and young people in Myanmar, which was already under tremendous pressure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread closure of schools,” said the statement. “Save the Children, UNESCO and UNICEF call on security forces to vacate occupied facilities immediately and ensure that schools and educational facilities are not used by military or security personnel.
“Schools should not be used by the security forces under any circumstances,” he said.
Calls for international action to stop the violence continue to increase.
“The junta cannot defeat the people of Myanmar united in peaceful opposition,” wrote Tom Andrews, a UN independent human rights expert in Myanmar, on Twitter on Friday. “Desperate, he launches relentless attacks to provoke a violent response to try to justify further violence. Is not working. The world must respond by cutting off its access to money and weapons. Now.”
Unexpectedly strong statements were issued on Friday by two Myanmar fellow countries in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo called for an end to the violence and urged other regional leaders to hold a summit on the crisis.
Widodo’s action came after ASEAN’s foreign ministers held a meeting on March 2 that failed to reach consensus on the crisis.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin issued a statement supporting Widodo’s call for an ASEAN summit, saying he was “shocked by the persistent use of lethal violence against unarmed civilians, which resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries. , as well as suffering across the country. ”