MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) – Residents of Myanmar’s second-largest city helped striking railway workers move out of their state-supplied housing after authorities said they would have to leave if they stop protesting last month’s military coup. continued to support.
Residents of Mandalay carried the workers’ furniture and other household items to trucks, vans and pick-ups.
The state railway workers went on strike last month as key and early supporters of the civil disobedience movement against the Feb. 1 coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The military regime has tried to get them back to work through intimidation, including a nightly gunfire patrol through their Mandalay residential area and a raid on the residential area of the railway workers in Yangon last month.
Protests against the coup continued on Saturday in cities and towns across the country, including Mandalay and Yangon.
The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in Myanmar after five decades of military rule. In the face of ongoing strikes and protests against the takeover, the junta has responded with increasing violence and attempts to severely limit the information reaching the outside world.
Internet access is severely restricted, private newspapers are no longer allowed to publish and protesters, journalists and politicians have been arrested in large numbers.
The independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has verified 235 deaths and has said the true total – including those for which verification was difficult – is “likely much higher.” It said it has confirmed that 2,330 people have been arrested or charged since the coup, with 1,980 still detained or charged.
In addition to using deadly force to try to break up demonstrations, the security forces have conducted a campaign of intimidation by stealing from homes they invaded, said the group, which also accused security forces of using people they had arrested as human shields when they tried to break demonstrations.
Numerous posts on social media, including videos, show that security forces are destroying cars parked in the street.
UN agencies UNICEF and UNESCO, along with private humanitarian group Save the Children, released a statement on Friday criticizing the occupation of educational facilities in Myanmar by security forces as a serious violation of children’s rights.
It said security forces have reportedly occupied more than 60 schools and college campuses in 13 states and regions.
“It will exacerbate the learning crisis for nearly 12 million children and youth in Myanmar, who have already been under tremendous pressure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting widespread school closures,” the statement said. Save the Children, UNESCO and UNICEF are calling on security forces to immediately vacate occupied buildings and ensure that schools and educational facilities are not used by military or security personnel.
“Under no circumstances should schools be used by security forces,” it said.
There is an increasing call for international action to end the violence.
“The junta cannot defeat the people of Myanmar united in peaceful opposition,” Tom Andrews, the UN’s independent human rights expert for Myanmar, wrote on Twitter on Friday. Desperate, it launches relentless attacks to provoke a violent response to try to justify further violence. It does not work. The world must respond by cutting off their access to money and weapons. Now.”
Unexpectedly strong statements were made by two of Myanmar’s countrymen in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Friday.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo pushed for an end to the violence and asked other regional leaders to hold a summit on the crisis.
Widodo’s move came after ASEAN foreign ministers held a meeting on March 2 that failed to reach consensus on the crisis.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin issued a statement supporting Widodo’s call for an ASEAN summit, saying that he was “shocked by the continued use of deadly force against unarmed civilians, which has resulted in a high number of deaths. and wounded, and also suffering throughout the country. . “