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Fresh bloodshed in Myanmar as UN set to meet on crisis
YANGON, March 5, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A protester was shot dead in Myanmar on
Friday in the latest round of bloodletting at anti-coup demonstrations, as
the UN Security Council prepared to meet on the escalating crisis.
Despite an increasingly brutal crackdown by the military authorities that
has seen more than 50 people killed, protesters took to the streets again in
towns around the country to denounce the February 1 coup.
The violence has brought condemnation from around the world, with the UN
rights chief demanding the junta “stop murdering and jailing protesters”, and
the Security Council is set to discuss the crisis later Friday.
But despite the mounting international pressure, the generals have shown no
sign of heeding calls for restraint.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, hundreds of engineers took to
the streets crying “Free our leader” in reference to ousted State Counsellor
Aung San Suu Kyi, detained by the military since the first night of the coup.
A 26-year-old man helping at barriers set up in the city to slow security
forces died after being shot in the neck, medical officials told AFP.
The killing follows the deadliest day of the crackdown so far on Wednesday,
when the UN said at least 38 people were killed as graphic images showed
security forces firing into crowds and bloodied bodies dragged away.
In the southern city of Dawei police fired tear gas at demonstrators, while
there was defiance despite the danger at protests in the commercial capital
Yangon.
“Scared, yeah I’m very scared to stay on the frontline. But we believe in
our comrades and we promise to protect each other if someone is injured,”
protester Didi, 27, told AFP.
– ‘System breakdown’ –
Meanwhile in the country’s north, a number of people have crossed the
border into India in a bid to escape the crackdown.
Indian police said nine people had crossed the 1,600-kilometre (1,000-mile)
frontier — three of whom were police officers who had refused to take part
in putting down protests.
The junta has sought to stop news of the crackdown getting out, choking the
internet and banning Facebook, the most popular social media platform in the
country.
But live video feeds and recorded footage are leaking out daily, and on
Friday the junta suffered its own internet ban as YouTube shut off a number
of military-run channels.
Friday also saw many parts of the country hit by power cuts for several
hours, though it was not clear that this was a deliberate measure in a
country where infrastructure is sometimes unreliable.
Government agencies attributed the outage to a “system breakdown”.
– Mounting pressure –
Last month’s coup brought a crashing halt to a decade-long experiment with
democracy in Myanmar, which was previously under military rule for nearly
five decades.
The country’s generals have historically had few qualms about brutally
suppressing dissent, crushing major protest movements in 1988 and 2007.
As in the past, the international community has in the last few weeks
sought to cajole and shame the junta into moderation, slapping on sanctions
and calling out abuses.
The US has tightened export controls on Myanmar, putting the country in the
same category as adversaries Russia and China, and limited the transfer of
any equipment with military uses.
Boris Johnson, prime minister of Myanmar’s former colonial ruler Britain,
said Thursday he was “horrified” by the escalation in violence. London has
also hit six senior junta officials — including commander-in-chief Min Aung
Hlaing — with sanctions.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar,
Thomas Andrews, has called for a “global arms embargo” on the country as well
as an International Criminal Court probe into alleged atrocities.
In New York, there was a fresh twist in the saga of Myanmar’s
representative to the UN.
The newly appointed ambassador resigned, saying his predecessor — sacked
by the junta after dramatically condemning their seizure of power in a speech
to the UN General Assembly — was still the legitimate envoy.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won November elections by a
landslide, but the military insisted the polls were rigged as a justification
for seizing power.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1941 hrs