YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Police fired a water cannon on Monday at hundreds of demonstrators in the capital of Myanmar who demand the return of military power to elected officials, while demonstrations against last week’s coup intensified and intensified. spread to more parts of the country.
The demonstrations in Naypyitaw, which lasted several days, are especially significant because the city, whose population includes many civil servants and their families, has no tradition of protest and has a strong military presence.
A protest also grew at a large intersection in the center of the country’s largest city, Yangon, with people shouting slogans, raising a three-finger salute that is a symbol of resistance and carrying signs saying, “Reject the military coup” and “Justice for Myanmar. ”
There were also reports of new demonstrations in cities in the north, southeast and east of the country, as well as in the city of Mandalay, where a procession of protesters and motorcycles took place.
“We don’t want the military junta,” said Daw Moe, a protester in Yangon. “We never wanted this joint. Nobody wants it. All people are ready to fight them. “
State media for the first time on Monday made reference to the protests, saying they were putting the country’s stability at risk.
“Democracy can be destroyed if there is no discipline,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Information, read on the state television station MRTV. “We will have to take legal measures to prevent acts that violate state stability, public security and the rule of law.”
The coup was seen internationally as a shocking setback for Myanmar, which had been progressing towards democracy in recent years after five decades of military rule. The acquisition came on the day that newly elected lawmakers were to take their seats in Parliament after the November elections. The generals said the vote was tainted by fraud – although the country’s electoral commission rejected the claim.
The growing protests are reminiscent of earlier movements in the Southeast Asian country’s long and bloody struggle for democracy. On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at the city’s Sule Pagoda, which was a focal point for demonstrations against the military regime during a major rebellion in 1988 and again during a 2007 uprising led by Buddhist monks. The military used deadly force to end both revolts. In addition to some officers, the soldiers were not on the streets in protests last week.
Photos of the standoff in Naypyitaw on Monday showed a vast crowd of protesters surrounded on various sides by large numbers of police and police vehicles. Police officers aimed a water cannon at the crowd, which was gathered near a giant statue of Aung San, who led the country’s struggle for independence from Britain in the 1940s and is the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader who was deposed for taking control. Suu Kyi – who became an international symbol of the country’s struggle for freedom while being held at his home for 15 years and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts – is now back under house arrest.
The risks of such clashes were highlighted on Sunday in the city of Myawaddy, on the eastern border of Myanmar with Thailand, when police fired into the air in an attempt to disperse a crowd. The Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners, an independent watchdog group, said a woman was shot, without providing details about her condition.
There are no signs that protesters or the military will back down in their struggle over who is the country’s legitimate government: the politicians of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which won the recent elections with an overwhelming victory, or the junta . Suu Kyi’s party called for international recognition as a legitimate representative of the people.
A call for a general strike was made late Sunday by several activist groups in Yangon, but it was not clear whether it was widely publicized or adopted by the informally organized civil disobedience movement on the front lines of the protests.
The Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners says that 165 people, most of them politicians, have been detained since the February 1 coup, of which only 13 have been released.
A foreigner was confirmed as being detained by authorities, Sean Turnell, an economist at Macquarie University in Australia who was an adviser to the Suu Kyi government. He was arrested on Saturday in unclear circumstances.
A statement released Monday by the office of Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said he was receiving consular support and described him as “a highly regarded adviser, member of the academic community”
“We certainly believe that he should be released immediately,” he said.
The military accused the Suu Kyi government of failing to act based on complaints that last November’s election was marked by fraud, although the electoral commission said it found no evidence to support the allegations.