Myanmar coup: junta deploys troops, cuts internet amid growing protests

RANGÚN.- Security forces shot at protesters on Sunday Burma, while the army has deployed troops and almost completely cut off internet access, which raises fears of a resurgence of the repression of the protest movement against the coup.

Through the streets of Rangoon, the economic capital, tanks have been sighted and in other towns there have been deployments of soldiers, according to images posted on social networks. Telecommunications were again severely disrupted, with an “almost general Internet shutdown” in the country, according to Netblocks.

In Myityina, in the north of the country, the security forces scattered to a concentration shot against the protesters, according to a local journalist.

“First they fired tear gas, then they fired,” he told the AFP the reporter, although she could not specify whether they used live or rubber bullets. Five journalists were arrested during this rally, according to local press. Faced with this situation, the ambassadors in Burma of United States, Canada, European Union countries and United Kingdom they urged the army “not to resort to violence”, in a joint statement.

The heads of the military junta will be “held responsible” for the violence in Burma, the rapporteur of the HIM-IS-IT for Burma, Tom andrews. “It is as if the generals have declared war on the Burmese people,” he tweeted. The February 1 coup overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s government and ended a fragile 10-year democratic transition.

This Sunday, the United States Embassy in Burma lsounded the alarm about troop movements in the country and warns against “disruptions in telecommunications”. The diplomatic headquarters warned of “military moves” in the country’s main city, Yangon, and said it expected the internet to shut down within the next 12 hours. The warning came after seeing three armored vehicles in the city streets.

In Burma, where the last popular revolts were stopped by blood and fire by the military, in 1988 and 2007, many citizens are realizing the fear they feel of reprisals from the authorities, and especially since the mobilization against the coup d’etat did not lose. Obligate.

On Sunday, for the ninth consecutive day, the Burmese took to the streets by the thousands. In Rangoon, protesters gathered at various locations, including near the famous Shwedagon pagoda, to demand the return of democracy and the release of its leader.

Near the central train station, residents blocked a street with tree trunks to prevent police from entering the area and prevented police from putting striking railway workers back to work. The council headed by General Min Aung Hlaing has released a list of seven of the country’s most prominent activists, which it actively seeks to promote the protests.

“If you find any of the fugitives mentioned or have information about them, report to the nearest police station,” a state media statement said on Sunday. “Those who harbor them will face measures according to the law.”

Since the beginning of the movement, the army has already They arrested some 400 politicians, activists and members of society civilians, including journalists, doctors and students. The list of seven “fugitives” It includes Min Ko Naing, a figure in the 1988 student movement who spent more than ten years in prison. “They arrest people at night and we have to be careful,” he said hours before his arrest warrant was issued, in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday, violating the Board’s ban to use the social network.

On Friday evening, they spontaneously appeared across Burma citizen watch committees in the neighborhoods in case the authorities carry out operations to arrest opponents.

“We don’t trust anyone at the moment, especially people in uniform,” said Myo Ko Ko, a member of a street patrol in a central Rangoon neighborhood.

The military junta claims to have seized power in accordance with the Constitution and has ordered journalists to stop calling it a “coup government”. Accused of illegally importing walkie-talkies, Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest in Naipyidó, the administrative capital of the country, and is in good health, according to her party. Burma has been ruled by the military for nearly fifty years since its independence in 1948.

Agency: AFP and ANSA

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