Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to
disperse hundreds of protesters in the main city of Yangon on Monday
Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu
Kyi appeared at a court hearing via video conferencing on Monday as
supporters marched in several towns and cities in defiance of a
crackdown after the bloodiest day since the February 1 military coup.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of
protesters in the main city of Yangon on Monday, witnesses said. They
later combed through side streets firing rubber bullets and at least one
person was hurt, media reported.
Suu Kyi, aged 75, looked in good health during her appearance before a
court in the capital Naypyitaw, one of her lawyers said. Two more
charges were added to those filed against her after the coup, she said.
“I saw Amay on the video, she looks healthy,” lawyer Min Min Soe told
Reuters, using an affectionate term meaning “mother” to refer to Suu
Kyi.
“She asked to meet her lawyer.” The Nobel Peace laureate, who leads
the National League for Democracy (NLD), has not been seen in public
since her government was ousted and she was detained along with other
party leaders.
She was initially charged with illegally importing six walkie-talkie
radios. Later, a charge of violating a natural disaster law by breaching
coronavirus protocols was added.
On Monday, two more charges were added, one under a section of a
colonial-era penal code prohibiting publication of information that may
“cause fear or alarm”, and the other under a telecommunications law
stipulating licences for equipment, the lawyer said.
The next hearing will be on March 15. Critics of the coup say the charges were trumped up.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the military seized power after
alleging fraud in a November election won by the NLD in a landslide,
with daily protests getting increasingly violent as police and troops
try to stamp them out. On Sunday, the police fired on crowds in several
places killing 18 people, the UN human rights office said.
A committee representing lawmakers elected last year said 26 people
were killed but Reuters was unable to verify that. “We have to continue
the protest no matter what,” Thar Nge said after police firing tear gas
forced him and others to abandon a barricade in a Yangon street.
“This is my neighbourhood. It’s a lovely neighbourhood but now we’re
hearing gunfire and we don’t feel safe.” The military has not commented
on Sunday’s violence and police and military spokesmen did not answer
calls.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper warned that
“severe action will be inevitably taken” against “anarchic mobs”.
Demonstrators marched on Monday in the northwestern town of Kale holding
up pictures of Suu Kyi and live video on Facebook showed a crowd in the
northeastern town of Lashio, chanting slogans.
The police and soldiers later raided a church in the town and detained 11 people, a church group said in a statement.
The coup brought a halt to Myanmar’s tentative steps towards
democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule and has drawn
condemnation from western countries and growing concern among its
neighbours. Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean), of which Myanmar is a member, will hold a video meeting
on Myanmar on Tuesday and “listen to the representative of the Myanmar
military authorities”, Singapore’s foreign minister, Vivian
Balakrishnan, told parliament. Balakrishnan called for the security
forces to desist from the use of lethal force, for Suu Kyi’s release and
for talks on solutions and a way back to democratic transition.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken denounced what he called
“abhorrent violence” by security forces, while Canada’s foreign
minister, Marc Garneau, called the use of lethal force “appalling”. Tom
Andrews, a UN special rapporteur, said it was clear the junta’s assault
would continue so the international community should ratchet up its
response. He proposed a global arms embargo, more sanctions on those
behind the coup and on military businesses and a UN Security Council
referral to the International Criminal Court.
“We must act,” Andrews said in a statement. The generals have for
years shrugged off diplomatic pressure, partly because of the support of
China and Russia. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman urged Myanmar
parties to keep in mind “the big picture” of development and stability
and exercise restraint.
