Protesters participate in a demonstration against the military coup in front of the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, on February 12, 2021.
STR | AFP | Getty Images
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in the main cities of Myanmar for the ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, after a fearful night when residents formed patrols and the army repealed laws protecting freedom.
Engineering students marched through downtown Yangon, the largest city, wearing white and carrying signs demanding the release of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since Myanmar’s military overthrew its elected government on February 1.
Part of the biggest street protests in more than a decade, a fleet of road buses drove slowly through the city, honking in protest.
A convoy on motorcycles and cars passed through the capital Naypyitaw. In the southeastern coastal town of Dawei, a band played drums in the shadows cast by awnings as the crowd marched in the hot sun. In Waimaw, in the northern tip of Kachin State, on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, crowds carried flags and sang revolutionary songs.
Many of the protesters across the country displayed images of Suu Kyi’s face.
His detention, on charges of importing walkie-talkies, is set to expire on Monday. His lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, could not be reached for comment.
More than 384 people have been detained since the coup, the monitoring group Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners said, in a wave of nighttime arrests.
“While the international community condemns the coup, Min Aung Hlaing is using all the tools at his disposal to instigate fears and instabilities,” activist Wai Hnin Pwint Thon of the UK-based human rights group Burma Campaign UK said on Twitter, referring to the head of the army.
‘Stop kidnapping people’
Many protesters in Yangon carried signs asking authorities to “stop kidnapping people at night”.
Residents came together on Saturday night to patrol the streets of Yangon and the country’s second largest city, Mandalay, fearing prison attacks and common crimes after the junta ordered the release of thousands of prisoners.
In different neighborhoods, groups mainly of young people beat pots and pans to sound the alarm while chasing what they believed to be suspicious characters.
Concerns about criminal activity have increased since Friday, when the junta announced it would release 23,000 prisoners, saying the move was consistent with “establishing a new democratic state with peace, development and discipline” and “pleasing the public”.
Unverified images on social media have fueled rumors that criminals are trying to stir up the unrest by setting fires or poisoning the water supply.
Tin Myint, a resident of Sanchaung municipality in Yangon, was among the crowds that arrested a group of four people suspected of carrying out an attack in the neighborhood.
“We think the military intends to cause violence against these criminals, by infiltrating them in peaceful protests,” he said.
He cited pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, when the military was widely accused of releasing criminals into the population to organize attacks, citing the riots later as a justification for extending their own power.
Three people in different parts of Yangon said they saw drones hovering over the crowd. “I was flying up and down and filming the crowd chasing thieves,” said Htet, 30, who asked to be identified by just one name.
The government and army were not immediately available for comment.
Also on Saturday night, the army reinstated a law requiring people to report night visitors to their homes, allowed security forces to detain suspects and search private properties without court approval, and ordered the arrest of well-known protest supporters in large scale.
The coup was denounced by Western countries, with the United States announcing some sanctions on the generals in power and other countries also considering measures.