Suppress protests against coup in Myanmar | …

Myanmar’s de facto government has applied martial law in force since Monday and cracked down on massive protests in various cities. against the coup d’état of February 1, in which even police officers who deserted the force in recent days and who oppose the military junta participated.

The situation remains tense. Popular mobilizations were the immediate reaction to the curfew that began to reign overnight, when gatherings of up to five people in public places were banned.

The army had warned that it would suppress any social insurrection, but this did not stop the demonstrators. The police response in the streets was immediate. Filming rubber bullets and tear gas, ran with fire hydrants and arrested dozens of people.

The toughest crackdown has happened Naipyidó, the capital of Myanmar, where several injuries were recorded. In Mandalay, the second largest city in the country, police used tear gas to disperse the flag bearers of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, deposed after the coup.

They demanded his release as well as the 170 people arrested, the vast majority of politicians and members of the former ruling party. At several other times, thousands of demonstrators came out to challenge the martial law decreed by the military junta.

The protests continue

The police set up checks on several bridges and highways as of Tuesday morning which lead to the center of Rangoon, the former capital and the most populous city, the scene of mass mobilizations since Saturday.

Thousands of people have managed to bypass the devices and they are concentrated near the Sule pagoda and the town hall, heavily protected by the police and in the presence of soldiers.

“Security forces have a moral and legal obligation to challenge any illegal order to use excessive force against peaceful protesters.”said Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma.

In reality, a group of police officers deserted the body and joined the demonstrators, according to several local media.

Meanwhile, in his first address to the nation, the chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing, last night called on the Burmese to remain “united as a country” and that they look “in the facts and not in the emotions”. Thus, he tried to justify the coup by alleged electoral fraud during the elections last November.