YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar police have stepped up crackdown on protesters against this month’s military takeover, taking place early Saturday and in force as protesters sought to gather in the country’s largest cities and elsewhere .
Security forces in some areas appeared to be becoming more aggressive in using force and making arrests, using more plainclothes officers than previously revealed. Photos posted on social media showed that residents of at least two cities, Yangon and Monywa, resisted by erecting makeshift street barricades to try to prevent police from advancing.
The Myanmar crisis took a dramatic turn on the international stage at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, when the country’s UN ambassador declared his loyalty to the ousted civilian government Aung San Suu Kyi and called on the world to put pressure on him. give up power to the army.
Arrests took place on Saturday in the two largest cities in Myanmar, Yangon and Mandalay, where protesters took to the streets daily to peacefully demand the reinstatement of the Suu Kyi government, whose National Party for Democracy won a landslide victory. in November. Police have increasingly enforced a junta order banning the gathering of five or more people.
Many other cities have also hosted major protests against the February 1 coup.
Police in Dawei, in the southeast, and Monywa, 135 kilometers northwest of Mandalay, used force against the protesters. Both cities, with populations of less than 200,000 each, saw large demonstrations.
Social media has reported unconfirmed reports of a deadly protester shot in Monywa. The reports could not be immediately confirmed independently, but appeared credible, both with photographs and with the identification of the victim. Monywa reports also said that dozens or more people had been arrested.
Military takeover reversed years of slow progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. Suu Kyi’s party was reportedly installed for a second five-year term, but the army blocked parliament from convening and detained her and President Win Myint, as well as other top members of her government.
At the New York General Assembly, Myanmar’s UN Ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, said in an emotional speech to fellow delegates that he represented Suu Kyi’s “civilian government chosen by the people” and supported the fight against military rule.
He urged all countries to issue public statements strongly condemning the coup and refusing to recognize the military regime. He also called for stronger international measures to stop the violence of security forces against peaceful protesters.
He drew loud applause from many diplomats in the 193-nation global corps, as well as effusive praise from other Burmese on social media, who described him as a hero. The ambassador issued a three-finger salute adopted by the civil disobedience movement at the end of his speech in which he addressed the people at home in Burmese.
On Saturday morning, in Yangon, police began early arrests at the intersection of Hledan Center, which became a meeting point for protesters who then headed to other parts of the city. Police have taken similar measures in residential neighborhoods.
Security forces also tried to stop the protests in Mandalay, where roadblocks were set up at several key intersections, and the usual places for rallies were flooded by police.
Buddhist monks were prominent in Saturday’s march in Mandalay, as they regularly were, giving moral authority to the civil disobedience movement provoking military leaders.
Mandalay has been the scene of several violent clashes and at least four of the eight confirmed protest-related deaths, according to the Independent Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners. On Friday, at least three people were injured, including two who were shot in the chest by rubber bullets and another person who suffered what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the foot.
According to the association, as of Friday, 771 people had been arrested, charged or convicted at some point in connection with the coup, and 689 were detained or wanted for arrest.
The junta said it had taken power as last year’s polls were marred by massive irregularities. The electoral commission before the army took over the coup rejected the accusation of widespread fraud. The junta fired the members of the old commission and appointed us, who on Friday canceled the election results.
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Associated Press writer Edith Lederer contributed to the report.