Myanmar coup: three protesters killed as shops and factories shut in defiance of military
- Protesters waved flags fashioned from sarongs in some places or hung them up on lines across the street to mark International Women’s Day
- Australia suspended its defence cooperation with the military and demanded the immediate release of Suu Kyi’s adviser Sean Turnell
Photos posted on Facebook showed the bodies of two men lying on the street in the northern town of Myitkyina. Witnesses said they were taking part in a protest when police fired stun grenades and tear gas. Several people were then hit by gunfire from buildings nearby.
One witness, who said he helped move the bodies, said two people were shot in the head and died on the spot. Three people were injured.
“How inhumane to kill unarmed civilians,” said the witness, a 20-year-old man. “We must have our right to protest peacefully.”
At least one person was killed and two injured during a protest in the town of Phyar Pon in the Irrawaddy Delta, a political activist and local media said.
Elsewhere, crowds demonstrating against the coup gathered in Yangon as well as the second-biggest city, Mandalay and several other towns, according to videos posted on Facebook. Protesters in Dawei, a coastal town in the south, were protected by the Karen National Union, an ethnic armed group engaged a long-running war with the military.
Protesters waved flags fashioned from htamain (women’s sarongs) in some places or hung them up on lines across the street to mark International Women’s Day while denouncing the junta. Walking beneath women’s sarongs is traditionally considered bad luck for men and tends to slow down police and soldiers.
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State media said security forces were keeping a presence at hospitals and universities as part of efforts to enforce the law.
Allowing business and economic activity to continue would help the military “as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people”, the unions said in a statement.
“The time to take action in defence of our democracy is now.”
Only a few small tea shops were open in Yangon, witnesses said. Major shopping centres were closed and there was no work going on at factories.
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Nun begs Myanmar military police not to shoot protesters, video from northern state shows
Protest leader Maung Saungkha on Facebook urged women to come out strongly against the coup on Monday, while Nay Chi, one of the organisers of the Sarong movement, described the women as “revolutionaries”.
“Our people are unarmed but wise. They try to rule with fear, but we will fight that fear,” she said.
Some of the biggest protests in recent weeks took place on Sunday, with police firing stun grenades and tear gas to break up demonstrations in Yangon, the northern town of Lashio and a sit-in by tens of thousands of people in Mandalay.
At least three protests were held in Yangon on Sunday, despite raids on campaign leaders and opposition activists by security forces late on Saturday.
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Ba Myo Thein, a deposed lawmaker, said reports of bruising to Khin Maung Latt’s head and body raised suspicions that he had been “tortured severely”.
Police in Pabedan, where Khin Maung Latt was arrested, declined to comment. A spokesman for the military did not answer calls seeking comment.
The army has said it is dealing with protests lawfully. In a statement on Monday, the military said it had arrested 41 people the previous day.
An announcement by the military carried on the front page of the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Monday threatened unspecified “action” against anyone who directly or indirectly works for a committee of ousted lawmakers that has declared itself the country’s legitimate authority.
The announcement said the committee was illegal and had committed “high treason”.
The killings have drawn anger in the West and been condemned by most democracies in Asia. The US and some other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on the junta. China said on Sunday it is prepared to engage with “all parties” to ease the crisis and is not taking sides.
“We will prioritise the most pressing humanitarian and emerging needs and seek to ensure our humanitarian engagement is with and through non-government organisations, not with government or government-related entities,” Payne said.
Australia’s bilateral defence ties with Myanmar’s military are restricted to non-combat areas such as English language training. Canberra will also continue to demand the immediate release of Sean Turnell, an economist and adviser to deposed leader Suu Kyi, authorities said.
Figures by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group showed nearly 1,800 people have been detained under the junta as of Sunday.
Protesters have demanded the release of Suu Kyi and respect for November’s election – which her party won in a landslide but which the army rejected. The army has said it will hold democratic elections at an unspecified date.
