Internet shutdowns, strengthening of the repressive arsenal, waves of arrests, fire with live ammunition: the Burmese junta seems more determined than ever to put out the wind of sling which has been blowing over this country since the coup d’etat of February 1 against the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Wednesday, March 3 was “The bloodiest” with “Thirty-eight dead”, declared during a press videoconference the special envoy of the United Nations for this country, the Swiss Christine Schraner Burgener. “We now have more than fifty dead since the start of the coup and multiple wounded”, she added during a video link from Switzerland, where she lives, with journalists at the United Nations.
The “France calls for an immediate end to the repression in Burma, to release those detained and to respect the democratic choice of the Burmese people” in the ballot boxes, a tweeted Wednesday evening the French President, Emmanuel Macron. “We are by your side”, he wrote, adding his voice to the concert of international protests.
Scenes of violent repression
The security forces continue to shoot opponents of the coup, defying the concert of international protests. After firing tear gas and rubber ammunition, security forces opened fire with live ammunition in several towns to disperse the rallies.
In Yangon, the economic capital, at least six demonstrators were killed, according to a rescuer and a local journalist. In four central towns, at least eleven protesters were killed, including two in Mandalay and seven a hundred kilometers away in Monywa, medical sources have learned. State television MRTV reported four deaths in Monywa. Protesters died exchanging gunfire, she said, saying the shots were not coming from the police or the army.
Also in the center of the country, in Myingyan, a 20-year-old boy was killed. Images posted on social media showed him covered in blood, carried away from the barricades by his friends. On others, a series of bangs were heard, while protesters continued to chant: “Our revolt must succeed! “ Scenes of violent repression have been reported in several other cities across the country.
Murderous weekend, journalists targeted
Sunday was particularly murderous with at least eighteen victims in the ranks of the demonstrators, according to the United Nations. Despite this, protesters continue to take to the streets to demand the departure of the putschist generals and the release of the hundreds of detainees imprisoned in recent weeks.
Six Burmese journalists, including Thein Zaw, a photographer for the American agency Associated Press, have been indicted. They are being sued for having “Caused fear in the population, spread false information (…) or incited government employees to disobedience ”, according to their lawyer.
According to a law on public order recently amended by the junta in an attempt to put an end to the campaign of civil disobedience launched in the hours following the coup, they face up to three years of detention. The six men are being held in the infamous Insein prison in Rangoon, where many political prisoners served heavy sentences under previous dictatorships.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers on Tuesday once again called on the military to restrain and release leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but failed to ask with one voice to the junta to restore democracy.
Leader of the National League for Democracy (LND), Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, is notably accused of having illegally imported six walkie-talkies and of having violated the rules put in place to fight the epidemic coronavirus.
Also targeted by the junta, ousted President Win Myint is now targeted by new accusations, the regime in place accusing him in particular of having violated the country’s Constitution. Like the leader of the LND, from which he also comes, he was already accused of violating protocols intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.
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