Citizens took to the streets today for the sixth consecutive day to protest against the military coup which overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, while the Washington announced the imposition of sanctions against the leaders of the junta.
The fear of reprisals is on everyone's mind, two days after the use of violence by the police which resulted in several protesters being injured, two of them very seriously. A young woman who was shot in the head remains in a critical condition.
Over 200 people, including many members of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, were arrested during the military coup of 1 February and afterwards, according to an NGO that helps political prisoners.
Nevertheless, demonstrators began to gather again on Thursday morning, 11/02, to demand the release of the prisoners, the end of the dictatorship and the abolition of the 2008 Constitution, which by definition is very favourable to the military, since it was practically drafted by the generals themselves.
«Don't go to the office!» shouted a group of protesters gathered in front of the offices of the central bank of Myanmar in Rangoon, the economic capital of the country, responding to calls for «civil disobedience» made in the first hours after the coup.
«We will protest until Aung San Suu Kyi (the 75-year-old de facto head of the civilian government) and Wynne Mead (the former president of the republic) to be released,» a central bank official told Agence France-Presse. Protest rallies are also taking place in parallel in other cities such as Mandalay (central Myanmar).
«Immediate release»
The escalation of violence against the protesters has caused an international outcry.
The president of USA, Joe Biden announced yesterday Wednesday that his government will reduce access to Myanmar's $1 billion in funds located within US jurisdiction and more sanctions will follow. This is a «strong message», according to Richard Horsey, a political analyst based in the Asian country.
«I call once again on the military to release all democratically elected political leaders and activists» it has detained, Biden added. The coup in Myanmar is the first international crisis he has faced since taking office.
The European Union may also impose new sanctions, warned the Josep Borel, head of European diplomacy.
They may have targeted the army chief Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the coup, and other generals. They have already been sanctioned because of the army's atrocities against members of the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017.
Powerful business groups controlled by the armed forces may also be targeted again, since sanctions against them were lifted during the fragile democratic parenthesis of the last ten years that violently ended the coup.
The UN Human Rights Council, is expected to hold an extraordinary meeting tomorrow to discuss developments. The position of Beijing and Moscow, which have traditionally protected the Burmese army from UN measures, will again attract attention.
Since 6 February, hundreds of thousands of citizens have been taking to the streets and demonstrating. It is the largest mass mobilisation since the 2007 popular uprising, the "People's Uprising", the "People's Revolution". «saffron revolution», which had been led by Buddhist monks and violently suppressed by the military.
However, the crowds have been smaller in recent days. Authorities have banned all gatherings of more than five people in Rangoon, in the Naypyidaw, the capital, and other cities, as well as night traffic.
New wave of arrests
The danger of harsh, bloody repression is very real in a country that has already lived more than fifty years under the yoke of the military since its independence in 1948.
New arrests were reported on Wednesday night, including that of the Vice Speaker of Myanmar's lower house of parliament and a close associate of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military had dealt a new blow to the National League for Democracy by launching a raid on Tuesday night on the party's headquarters in Rangoon.
The United Nations Special Envoy for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, condemned the use of violence. «They cannot steal the hope and determination of a people,» he said via Twitter.
The army claims that in the November parliamentary elections, in which the National League for Democracy, there was fraud, although international observers found no serious problems.
In fact, the generals fear that they will see their power diminish after the victory of the Aung San Suu Kyi faction, which had intended to move to revision of the Constitution.
Despite being heavily criticised by the international community for her passivity when the military committed atrocities against the Rohingya, the Nobel laureate, who was under house arrest for 15 years for her opposition to the military junta, remains very popular in her country.
She is «in good health» and is under confinement at her home in Naypyidaw, according to her party.
