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Thousands protest Myanmar coup after night of fear, security patrols
Engineering students marched through downtown Yangon, the biggest city, wearing white and carrying placards demanding the release of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since Myanmar’s military overthrew her elected government on Feb. 1.
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This aerial photo shows protesters marching on a road during a demonstration against the military coup in Shwebo in Myanmar's Sagaing Region on February 13, 2021. (Agence France Presse/STR)
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housands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar’s major cities for a ninth straight day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, after a fearful night as residents formed patrols and the army rolled back laws protecting freedoms.
Engineering students marched through downtown Yangon, the biggest city, wearing white and carrying placards demanding the release of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since Myanmar’s military overthrew her elected government on Feb. 1.
A convoy of thousands on motorbikes and in cars also drove through the capital Naypyitaw, with protesters holding up images of Suu Kyi's face.
Her detention, on charges of importing walkie-talkies, is due to expire on Monday. Her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, could not be reached for comment on what was set to happen.
More than 384 people have been detained since the coup, the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said, in a wave of mostly nightly arrests.
Many protesters in Yangon carried signs calling to authorities to “stop kidnapping people at night”.
Residents banded together late on Saturday to patrol streets in Yangon and second city Mandalay, fearing arrest raids as well as common crime after the junta ordered the release of thousands of prisoners.
In different neighbourhoods, groups of mostly young men banged on pots and pans to sound the alarm as they chased down what they believed to be suspicious characters.
Also late on Saturday, the army reinstated a law requiring people to report overnight visitors to their homes, suspended laws constraining security forces from detaining suspects or searching private property without court approval, and ordered the arrest of well-known backers of mass protests.
The coup has prompted the biggest street protests in more than a decade and has been denounced by Western countries, with the United States announcing some sanctions on the ruling generals and other countries also considering measures.
Agence France-Presse reported that crowds defied overnight curfews to gather on the streets as night fell, hours after finishing a seventh straight day of rallies, following rumours that police were launching a fresh wave of arrests.
One group swarmed a hospital in the city of Pathein on rumours that a popular local doctor would be taken.
"If I have problems, I will ask for your help," Than Min Htut told the group who had come to aid him.
He told AFP Saturday he would continue participating in a civil disobedience campaign opposing military rule.
People in Yangon skirted a junta ban on Facebook to organise neighbourhood watch groups that warned of rumoured arrests.
"We didn't know who will be taken, but when we heard the sound, we went out to join our neighbours," said Tin Zar, a storekeeper in Yangon's north.
"Even if they shoot, we are not afraid," she told AFP.
