By Reuters Staff, published by US News & World Report
OPPONENTS of Myanmar’s military coup called for more big protests today (Feb. 18) to show that the army’s assertion of widespread public support for overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and holding new elections was false.
They voiced scepticism at the junta’s promise at a news conference yesterday that there would be a fair election and it would hand over power, even as police filed an additional charge against Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace laureate, detained since the Feb. 1 coup, now faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as charges of illegally importing six walkie talkie radios.
This was at a hearing by video conference yesterday, her next hearing was set for March 1.
“Let’s gather in millions to take down the dictators,” activist Khin Sandar wrote on Facebook.
Kyi Toe, a senior member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party who has not been arrested, said: “Let’s march en masse. Let’s show our force against the coup government that has destroyed the future of youth, the future of our country.”
The coup that cut short the Southeast Asian country’s unsteady transition towards democracy has prompted daily demonstrations since Feb. 6, some drawing hundreds of thousands of people.
The army takeover has also drawn strong Western criticism, with renewed anger from Washington and London over the additional charge for Suu Kyi. Although China has taken a softer line, its ambassador in Myanmar yesterday dismissed accusations it supported the coup.
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said he feared the possibility of violence against the protesters and made an urgent call on any country with influence over the generals, and businesses, to press them to avoid it.
“Continued repression of the people of Myanmar’s basic liberties and human rights must end immediately,” Andrews said in a statement.
In the main city of Yangon and elsewhere, motorists responded to a “broken-down car campaign” spreading on social media, stopping their supposedly stalled cars on streets to block them to police and military trucks.
Hundreds of people have been rounded up by the army since the coup, many of them in night-time raids. Those arrested include much of the NLD’s senior leadership.
The suspension of the internet at night has added to a sense of fear.
Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners group said more than 450 arrests had been made since the coup.
The army seized power alleging fraud in a Nov. 8 election – an accusation rejected by the electoral commission. The military said its declaration of a state of emergency was in line with the constitution that paved the way for democratic reforms.
“Our objective is to hold an election and hand power to the winning party,” Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the ruling council, told the junta’s first news conference since overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government. He gave no time frame, but said the army would not be in power for long.
The last stretch of army rule lasted nearly half a century before democratic reforms began in 2011.
BACK UNDER HOUSE ARREST
Suu Kyi, 75, spent nearly 15 years under house arrest for her efforts to end military rule.
Ruling council spokesman Zaw Min Tun dismissed the suggestion she and ousted President Win Myint were in detention, saying they were in their homes for their security while the law took its course. The president also faces charges under the natural disaster law.
The United States was “disturbed” by reports of the additional criminal charge against Suu Kyi, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. Washington imposed new sanctions last week on the Myanmar military. No additional measures were announced on Tuesday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also decried the new criminal charge, saying it was “fabricated” by the military.
CAPTIONS:
Home Page: Protesters opposed to the military coup block a street next to the Central Bank in Yangon, Myanmar on Feb 16, 2021 in this still image taken from a video obtained by Reuters.
Top: People take part in a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, February 16, 2021. Photo: Reuters/ Stringer
