YANGON, Feb 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Anti-coup protesters on Thursday took to the streets of Myanmar for a sixth consecutive day, as US President Joe
Biden announced sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation’s generals and demanded they relinquish power.
There has been an outpouring of anger and defiance since the military
ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week and detained her along with other senior figures of her National League for Democracy party.
Security forces have used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets
against the protesters, with isolated reports of live rounds also being
fired. Police also ramped up their harassment of the NLD with a raid on its
headquarters.
But demonstrators again marched peacefully on Thursday in Naypyidaw — the capital and military stronghold — as well as Yangon, the largest city and
commercial hub.
“Don’t go to the office,” chanted a group of protesters outside Myanmar’s
central bank in Yangon, part of a civil disobedience effort urging civil
servants and people in other industries to boycott work and put pressure on
the junta.
There were also fresh rallies in the cities of Dawei and Mandalay, with
protesters carrying signs that said “Restore our Democracy!” and “We condemn the military coup”.
In WASHINGTON, Biden announced that his administration was cutting of the generals’ access to $1 billion in funds in the United States.
“I again call on the Burmese military to immediately release democratic
political leaders and activists,” Biden said, as he flagged further
sanctions.
“The military must relinquish power.”
“I’ve approved a new executive order enabling us to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members,” Biden said.
Biden said that his administration would identify a first round of targets under the sanctions this week.
He reiterated that the United States would not curb assistance to Myanmar, also known as Burma, directed toward civil society or humanitarian groups.
US law forbids assistance to governments that take power in coups, although virtually all US funding to Myanmar is channeled through non-governmental groups.
Top generals including the army chief who led the coup, Min Aung Hlaing, are already under US travel and financial sanctions for Myanmar’s brutal campaign against the mostly Muslim people Rohingya people.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States could still raise further pressure on the generals by coordinating its action with allies.
“We can impose costs that are even steeper by working with our like-minded partners and allies,” Price said.
In BRUSSELS, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also warned the bloc could impose fresh sanctions on Myanmar’s military.
The military justified last week’s power grab by claiming widespread voter
fraud in the November polls, which saw a landslide for Suu Kyi’s party.
It quickly moved to stack courts and political offices with loyalists as
it ended a decade of civilian rule.
Live rounds were fired at a rally in Naypyidaw this week, critically
wounding two people — including a woman who was shot in the head.
“They can shoot a young woman but they can’t steal the hope and resolve of
a determined people,” UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews tweeted Wednesday.
The military’s clampdown on information using internet blackouts — with
tech companies ordered to cut communications intermittently — has drawn
widespread condemnation.
There were more reports of arrests on Thursday, including the deputy
speaker of the parliament’s lower house and a key aid to Suu Kyi, taking the
number of coup-linked detentions to more than 200, according to monitor
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. — NNN-AGENCIES
