Myanmar Police Shoot Water at Protesters to Disperse Crowds in Capital Nay Pyi Taw
WASHINGTON –
Mass demonstrations by Burmese people protesting a military coup have entered their fourth day. People continued to demonstrate despite curfew orders and rally bans by authorities, while police used water cannons, fired in the air to try to stop the protests and arrested at least dozens of protesters.
A protester is injured in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw (Reuters, February 9, 2021)
Riot police spray water jets at protesters for the second day in a row in the capital Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday (Feb 9, 2021). Witnesses said people responded by throwing stones at the police, who later fired into the air. Videos posted by people on social media showed some of the crowd of demonstrators fleeing the scene quickly after hearing gunfire.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, police began arresting people for defying a ban on rallies. Local media reported that at least 27 protesters were arrested.
Demonstrations erupted in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon and across the country this past weekend. Observers said it was the largest protest since the 2007 “robe revolution. The “robe revolution,” which involved large numbers of Buddhist monks, played an important role in moving Myanmar toward democratic reform and was a precursor to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy winning the 2015 election and establishing the country’s first civilian government in decades.
On Feb. 1, Myanmar’s military suddenly detained several senior civilian government officials, including Aung San Suu Kyi, alleging fraud in the general election held last November. The military also decided to take over the government and declared a year-long state of emergency in the country.
On Monday, coup chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing addressed the nation in his first public address since seizing power. He reiterated that the November elections were fraudulent and pledged to hold new elections to bring about a “true and orderly democracy” unlike the previous era of military rule. However, Min Aung Hlaing’s speech was met with disdain by the demonstrators.
Western governments have generally condemned the military coup in Burma, but most have so far taken no real action against the junta.
However, the New Zealand government announced Tuesday that it was suspending all high-level political and military ties with Burma and imposing a travel ban on the junta’s leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden discussed a joint response to the military coup in Myanmar during a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same day.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy who won the November election, remains under military house arrest. The State Department said it had tried to contact her but was rebuffed by the Burmese military government.
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