Myanmar security forces arrest the prominent anti-coup campaign leader

(Reuters) – Myanmar security forces on Thursday arrested one of the key leaders of the campaign against military rule after ramming him into a car while leading a motorcycle protest, friends and colleagues said.

Opponents of a February 1 coup that ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi have continued their campaign against the military this traditional New Year’s week with marches and several other displays of resistance.

“Our brother Wai Moe Naing has been arrested. His motorcycle was hit by an unmarked police car, ”Win Zaw Khiang, a member of a protest organization, said on social media.

Wai Moe Naing, a 25-year-old Muslim, has emerged as one of the most high-profile opposition leaders to the coup.

Earlier, Reuters spoke by phone with Wai Moe Naing on his way to lead the meeting in the central city of Monywa, about 700 km north of the capital, Yangon.

Video posted on social media showed an oncoming car crashing into a group of motorcycles. Reuters was unable to verify the images.

The black car’s license plate featured in two videos entering the rally did not match the vehicle model listed for that license plate in Myanmar’s vehicle database.

A junta spokesperson was not available for comment.

Monywa was one of the main centers of the pro-democracy campaign with large rallies day in and day out and repeated action by the security forces.

Some colleagues said they feared for Wai Moe Naing’s safety.

The Swedish embassy said it was following his case and insisted that all detainees receive good health care and that their human rights are respected.

Another protest leader, Tayzar San, said on Facebook, “We must continue the fight by doubling our energies for Ko Wai Moe Naing, for the truth, for the present and future of the country.”

PROTESTING MEDICINE

In the capital Yangon, security forces have detained Myo Aye, director of the Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar, activist Ei Thinzar Maung said on Facebook. Myo Aye has also been instrumental in organizing the protests.

The coup has plunged Myanmar into crisis after 10 years of cautious steps towards democracy, with, in addition to daily protests, strikes by workers in many sectors that have brought the economy to a standstill.

An activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, says the security forces have murdered 715 protesters since the ousting of Suu Kyi’s government.

Earlier on Thursday, soldiers opened fire in the city of Mandalay to disperse protesting medical workers and one man was killed and several injured when security forces fired into a nearby neighborhood, the media reported.

Medical personnel, some of whom have been at the forefront of the anti-coup campaign, gathered early in the second city, but troops soon arrived, opened fire and detained some, witnesses and the Burmese-language service said. from the BBC.

The BBC and other news outlets had no details of victims or arrests in the protest, but Khit Thit media said a man was shot and killed in the grounds of a nearby mosque when security forces split up the medics’ protest.

‘There was no protest here. The soldiers came and seemed to be looking for someone, ”a resident of the neighborhood where the mosque is located said by phone, refusing to be identified.

The five-day New Year’s holiday known as Thingyan began Tuesday, but pro-democracy activists canceled the usual festivities to focus on their opposition to the generals.

Hundreds of people took part in protests, marches and motorcycle rallies in various cities, according to media photos.

The military says protests are diminishing, but the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that “rioters” had committed an increasing number of “terrorist acts”, attacked security forces with grenades, planted “homemade mines” and started fires.