Thousands rally in Myanmar after the bloodiest day of anti-coup protests so far

Thousands of opponents of Myanmar’s military coup have gathered again, undeterred by the bloodiest episode of their campaign the previous day which claimed two lives in Mandalay.

Early on Sunday, police arrested a famous actor wanted for supporting opposition to the 1 February coup, while Facebook deleted the military’s main page under its standards prohibiting the incitement of violence.

The military has been unable to quell demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes against the coup and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, even with a promise of a new election, arrests and warnings against dissent.

In the main city of Yangon, several thousand young people gathered to chant slogans, while hundreds massed peacefully in the second city of Mandalay.

In Myitkyina in the north, people laid flowers for the dead protesters while young people with banners drove around on motorbikes.

Crowds marched in the central towns of Monywa and Bagan and in Dawei and Myeik in the south.

“They aimed at the heads of unarmed civilians. They aimed at our future,” a protester in Mandalay told the crowd.

Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun, who is also the spokesman for the new military council, has not responded to media attempts to contact him.

He told a news conference on Tuesday the army’s actions were within the constitution and supported by most people, and he blamed protesters for instigating violence.

The more than two weeks of protests had been largely peaceful, unlike previous episodes of opposition during nearly half a century of direct military rule to 2011.

Members of ethnic minorities, poets and transport workers marched peacefully on Saturday in various places but tension escalated in Mandalay where police and soldiers confronted striking shipyard workers.

Some demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse. Police responded with tear gas and gunfire at the protesters.

Video clips on social media showed members of the security forces firing and witnesses said they found the spent cartridges of live rounds and rubber bullets.

Two people were shot and killed and 20 were wounded, said Ko Aung, a leader of a volunteer emergency service.

Police were not available for comment but the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the strikers sabotaged vessels and attacked police with sticks, knives and catapults.

Eight policemen and several soldiers were injured, it said.

The paper did not mention the deaths but said: “Some of the aggressive protesters were also injured due to the security measures conducted by the security force.”

A young woman protester became the first death among anti-coup demonstrators on Friday.

She was shot in the head on 9 February in the capital, Naypyitaw. The army says one policeman has died of injuries sustained in a protest.

A female protester flashes a three-fingered salute in front of police in Mandalay, Myanmar, Saturday, February 20, 2021

The army seized power after alleging fraud in 8 November elections swept by Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, detaining her and others. The electoral commission had dismissed the fraud complaints.

Facebook said it deleted the military’s main page, Tatmadaw True News Information, for repeated violations of its standards “prohibiting incitement of violence and co-ordinating harm”.

Early on Sunday, police arrested actor Lu Min, who has been a prominent figure in Yangon protests and is one of six celebrities the army says are wanted under an anti-incitement law.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group says 569 people have been detained in connection with the coup.

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