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  1. #76
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    The 2008 Yanmar constitution regarding a "State of Emergency:

    Constitution of the Republic of theUnion of Myanmar(2008)

    40. (a)

    If there arises a state of emergency characterized by inability to perform
    executive functions in accord with the provisions of the Constitution in a Region or a State or a Self-Administered Area, the President is empowered to exercise executive power in that Region, State or Self-Administered Area and, if necessary in doing so, the President is empowered to exercise 10 legislative powers concerning that Region, State or Self-Administered Area in accord with the provisions of this Constitution.

    (b)

    If there arises or there is sufficient reason to arise a state of emergency endangering life and property of the people in a Region, State or Self-Administered Area, the Defence Services has the right, in accord with the provisions of this Constitution, to prevent that danger and provide protection.

    (c)

    If there arises a state of emergency that could cause disintegration of the
    Union, disintegration of national solidarity and loss of sovereign power or attempts therefore by wrongful forcible means such as insurgency or violence, the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services has the right to take over and exercise State sovereign power in accord with the
    provisions of this Constitution.

    https://www.burmalibrary.org/docs5/M...on-2008-en.pdf

    Also Sections 417 to 432.

    The 2008 Myanmar Constitution suggests that:

    The "CiC of the Defence Services" has acted within the Myanmar Law and Constitution by lawfully instigating Section 40, Clause C and the other Sections.
    Last edited by OhOh; 11-02-2021 at 01:52 PM.
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  2. #77
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Japan, fearing impact on businesses and benefits for China, faces Myanmar balancing act

    "Private investments have poured into Myanmar in line with its democratic reform. As of January this year, 436 Japanese companies were operating in the country, up from 53 in March 2012, according to the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Myanmar.“Japanese businesses have invested into the Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Yangon and elsewhere so they would certainly call for a stable relationship with Myanmar, even under the military rule, and I can understand their logic and feeling,” Oba said"


    Japan, fearing impact on businesses and benefits for China, faces Myanmar balancing act | The Japan Times

  3. #78
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    One person's analysis of the situation:
    Another's: You're full of shit

  4. #79
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Three wounded as hundreds of thousands of protesters defy Myanmar junta


    (Reuters) - Supporters of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi clashed with police on Friday as hundreds of thousands joined nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in defiance of the junta’s call to halt mass gatherings.

    The United Nations human rights office said more than 350 people, including officials, activists and monks, have been arrested in Myanmar since the Feb. 1 military coup, including some who face criminal charges on “dubious grounds”.


    The U.N. rights investigator for Myanmar told a special session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that there were “growing reports, photographic evidence” that security forces have used live ammunition against protesters, in violation of international law.


    The mass protests on Friday were mostly peaceful but were the biggest so far, and came a day after Washington slapped sanctions on generals who led the takeover.


    Three people were wounded when police fired rubber bullets to break up a crowd of tens of thousands in the southeastern city of Mawlamyine, a Myanmar Red Cross official told Reuters.


    Footage broadcast by Radio Free Asia showed police charging at protesters, grabbing one and smashing him in the head. Stones were then thrown at police before the shots were fired.

    “Three got shot – one woman in the womb, one man on his cheek and one man on his arm,” said Myanmar Red Cross official Kyaw Myint, who witnessed the clash.


    “The crowd is still growing,” he added.


    Doctors do not expect a 19-year-old woman shot during a protest in the capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday to survive. She was hit in the head with a live round fired by police.


    In the biggest city Yangon on Friday, hundreds of doctors in white duty coats and scrubs marched past the golden Shwedagon pagoda, the country’s holiest Buddhist site, while in another part of town, football fans wearing team kits marched with humorous placards denouncing the military.


    Other demonstrations took place in Naypyitaw, the coastal town of Dawei, and in Myitkyina, the capital of northern Kachin state, where young men played rap music and staged a dance-off.

    Social media giant Facebook said it would cut the visibility of content run by Myanmar’s military, saying they had “continued to spread misinformation” after seizing power.


    As Washington announced sanctions, European Union lawmakers on Thursday called for action from their countries and Britain said it was considering measures to punish the coup leaders.


    Supporters of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) welcomed the U.S. sanctions but said tougher action was needed.


    “We are hoping for more actions than this as we are suffering every day and night of the military coup here in Myanmar, ” Suu Kyi supporter Moe Thal, 29, told Reuters.


    PRISONERS RELEASED


    Myint Thu, Myanmar’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the special council session that his government wanted “better understanding of the prevailing situation in the country, and constructive engagement and cooperation from the international community.”


    “We do not want to stall the nascent democratic transition in the country,” he said.


    The coup has prompted the biggest demonstrations since a 2007 ‘Saffron Revolution’ that ultimately became a step towards now halted democratic change.


    Friday’s protests marked the seventh consecutive day of protests, including one on Thursday outside the Chinese embassy where NLD supporters accused Beijing of backing the junta despite Chinese denials.


    Security forces carried out another series of arrests overnight Thursday.

    The junta remitted the sentences of more than 23,000 prisoners on Friday, saying the move was consistent with “establishing a new democratic state with peace, development and discipline” and would “please the public”.


    The Frontier Myanmar news magazine reported the prisoners given amnesty included four supporters of a gunman who shot dead a prominent Suu Kyi ally and constitutional lawyer in 2017.



    U.S. SANCTIONS


    The U.S. sanctions target 10 current and former military officials, including Min Aung Hlaing. It also blacklisted three gem and jade companies it said were owned or controlled by the military.


    Min Aung Hlaing and other top generals are already under U.S. sanctions over abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, and some analysts question whether the latest penalties will have much effect.


    Derek Mitchell, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar and president of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, said U.S. sanctions alone would have little impact without “tough messages” from U.S. partners such as Japan, Singapore and India.


    The protests have revived memories of almost half a century of direct army rule, punctuated by bloody crackdowns, until the military began relinquishing some power in 2011.


    Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who spent nearly 15 years under house arrest under previous juntas, remains hugely popular despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.


    The generals have promised to stick to the 2008 constitution and hand over power after elections, but on Friday the junta said it would “work for the emergence of a constitution that is in alignment and harmony with the Democratic Federal Union”.


    No date has yet been set for elections.



    Three wounded as hundreds of thousands of protesters defy Myanmar junta | Reuters

  5. #80
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Nine killed in Myanmar as police fire to break up protests

    (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces opened fire on protests against military rule on Wednesday killing nine people, witnesses and media reported, a day after neighbouring countries called for restraint and offered to help Myanmar resolve the crisis.

    The security forces resorted to live fire with little warning in several towns and cities, witnesses said, as the junta appeared more determined than ever to stamp out protests against a Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.


    “They marched towards us and fired tear gas, marched again and used stun grenades,” Si Thu Maung, a protest leader in the central town of Myingyan, told Reuters.


    “Then they didn’t spray us with water cannon, no warning to disperse, they just fired their guns.”


    One teenaged boy was killed in Myingyan but the heaviest toll was in another central town, Monywa, where five people - four men and one woman - were killed, said Ko Thit Sar, editor of the Monywa Gazette.

    “We’ve confirmed with family members and doctors, five people have been killed,” he told Reuters.


    “At least 30 people are wounded, some still unconscious.”


    Two people were killed in the country’s second-biggest city Mandalay, a witness and media reports said, and one person was killed when police opened fire in the main city of Yangon, a witness there said.


    A spokesman for the ruling military council did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

    At least 30 people have been killed since the coup.


    “The country is like the Tiananmen Square in most of its major cities,” the Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, said on Twitter, alluding to the student-led mass protests in Beijing in 1989.


    The violence came a day after foreign ministers from Southeast Asian neighbours urged restraint but failed to unite behind a call for the release Suu Kyi and the restoration of democracy.


    Protesters were also out in Chin State in the west, Kachin State in the north, Shan State in the northeast, the central region of Sagaing and the south, media and residents said.

    “We’re aiming to show that no one in this country wants dictatorship,” Salai Lian, an activist in Chin State, told Reuters earlier.


    Security forces also detained about 300 protesters as they broke up protests in Yangon, the Myanmar Now news agency reported. One activist said several protest leaders were among those taken away.


    Video posted on social media showed long lines of young men, hands on heads, filing into army trucks as police and soldiers stood guard. Reuters was unable to verify the footage.


    ‘NO MORE WORDS’

    On Tuesday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to make a breakthrough in a virtual foreign ministers’ meeting on Myanmar.


    While united in a call for restraint, only four members - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore - called for the release of Suu Kyi and other detainees.


    “We expressed ASEAN’s readiness to assist Myanmar in a positive, peaceful and constructive manner,” the ASEAN chair, Brunei, said in a statement.


    Myanmar’s state media said the military-appointed foreign minister attended the ASEAN meeting that “exchanged views on regional and international issues”, but made no mention of the focus on Myanmar’s problems.

    It said Wunna Maung Lwin “apprised the meeting of voting irregularities” in November’s election.


    The military justified the coup saying its complaints of voter fraud in the Nov. 8 elections were ignored. Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, earning a second five-year term. The election commission said the vote was fair.


    Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has said the intervention was to protect Myanmar’s fledgling democracy and has pledged to hold new elections but given no time frame.


    Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday in an interview the coup was a “tragic” step back for Myanmar and the use of lethal force was “disastrous”.


    ASEAN’s bid to find a way out of the crisis has drawn criticism from inside Myanmar, with concern it would legitimise the junta and not help the country.


    “No more words, action,” activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi told Reuters in a message. She called for sanctions on businesses linked to the military.


    Tuesday evening’s news bulletin on Myanmar state television said agitators were mobilising people on social media and forming “illegal organisations”.


    Suu Kyi, 75, has been held incommunicado since the coup but appeared at a court hearing via video conferencing this week and looked in good health, a lawyer said.


    She is one of nearly 1,300 people who have been detained, according to activists.


    Ousted President Win Myint is facing two new charges, his lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, said, including one for a breach of the constitution that is punishable by up to three years on prison.

    Nine killed in Myanmar as police fire to break up protests | Reuters

  6. #81
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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  7. #82
    I'm in Jail

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    How dare those pesky civilians protest against the jailing of a democratically elected leader, and the subsequent jailing of 1,300 more as well ?

  8. #83
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    a rather disturbing clip of ambulance drivers being severely beaten up by burmese security forces.

    not for the faint hearted.





    for all those that continually glorify asia at the expense of the western societies they came from, be careful what you wish for for this is what lies just beneath the surface of many asian countries, including thailand.

  9. #84
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    'I will shoot whoever I see': Myanmar soldiers use TikTok to threaten protesters

    SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Armed Myanmar soldiers and police are using TikTok to deliver death threats to protesters against last month’s coup, researchers said, prompting the Chinese video-sharing app to announce it was removing content that incites violence.


    Digital rights group Myanmar ICT for Development (MIDO) said it had found over 800 pro-military videos that menaced protesters at a time of increasing bloodshed - with 38 protesters killed on Wednesday alone according to the United Nations.


    “It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said MIDO executive director Htaike Htaike Aung, who noted that there’s “hundreds” of videos of uniformed soldiers and police on the app.


    A spokesman for the army and junta did not respond to a request for comment.


    One video from late February reviewed by Reuters shows a man in army fatigues aiming an assault rifle at the camera and addressing protesters: “I will shoot in your fucking faces... and I’m using real bullets.”


    “I am going to patrol the whole city tonight and I will shoot whoever I see... If you want to become a martyr, I will fulfil your wish.”

    Reuters was unable to contact him or the other uniformed men who appear in the TikTok videos or to verify that they are in the armed forces.


    TikTok is the latest social media platform to suffer a proliferation of menacing content or hate speech in Myanmar.


    U.S. tech giant Facebook has now banned all pages linked to Myanmar’s army - and has itself been banned.


    TikTok said in a statement: “We have clear Community Guidelines that state we do not allow content that incites violence or misinformation that causes harm... As it relates to Myanmar, we have been and continue to promptly remove all content that incites violence or spreads misinformation, and are aggressively monitoring to remove any such content that violates our guidelines.”


    TikTok’s policies forbid displays of guns unless they are in “safe environments”.


    Reuters reviewed over a dozen videos where uniformed men, sometimes brandishing guns, threatened to harm protesters who are calling for the reversal of the coup and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


    Some videos had tens of thousands of views. Those reviewed by Reuters were taken down this week. Some used hashtags relating to U.S celebrities.


    Already growing fast in Myanmar, TikTok saw a strong rise in downloads after the military banned Facebook last month. It is in the top 20 most downloaded apps in Myanmar, according to industry data.


    Facebook, which remains popular in Myanmar despite the ban, has toughened its scrutiny of content since being accused of helping to fan atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017.


    Researchers like Htaike say they believe the military is now attempting to grow its presence on other platforms.



    '''I will shoot whoever I see''': Myanmar soldiers use TikTok to threaten protesters | Reuters

  10. #85
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Exclusive: Three Myanmar police seek refuge in India rather than carry out junta's orders

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Three Myanmar police officers have crossed over the border into northeastern India to escape taking orders from a military junta that is trying to suppress protests against last month’s coup, an Indian police official said on Thursday.

    There have been several instances recounted on social media of police joining the civil disobedience movement and protests against the junta, with some being arrested, but this is the first reported case of police fleeing Myanmar.


    The three police came across the border near the town of North Vanlaiphai in India’s Mizoram state on Wednesday afternoon and authorities there were assessing their health and making arrangements for them, the police superintendent in Serchhip district said.


    “What they said is they got instructions from the military rulers which they cannot obey, so they have run away,” Superintendent Stephen Lalrinawma told Reuters.

    “They are seeking refuge because of the military rule in Myanmar,” Lalrinawma said.


    India shares a 1,643 kilometre (1,021 mile) land border with Myanmar, where more than 50 people have been killed during protests against military coup on Feb.1. The junta overthrew a democratically-elected government, and detained its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, having disputed her party’s landslide victory in November.


    India is already home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar, including ethnic Chin people and Rohingya who fled the southeast Asian country during previous bouts of violence.

    A Chin community leader in New Delhi said police have rarely fled to India.


    “This is something unusual,” said James Fanai, president of the India-based Chin Refugee Committee. “Because in the past, police and military just follow orders.”


    Myanmar’s ruling military council has stressed the importance of police and soldiers doing their duty.


    Exclusive: Three Myanmar police seek refuge in India rather than carry out junta'''s orders | Reuters

  11. #86
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    India is already home to thousands of refugees from Myanmar, including ethnic Chin people and Rohingya who fled the southeast Asian country during previous bouts of violence.
    lets hope the indians give them asylum status.

    if they had fled to thailand they would have been arrested, imprisoned, then trussed up like pigs and sent back to the junta.

  12. #87
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    Crowds gathered in Mandalay on Thursday for the funeral of a 19-year-old woman who was shot dead during Myanmar's anti-coup protests a day earlier.


    Kyal Sin, known as Angel, was wearing a T-shirt with the phrase "Everything will be OK" when she died.


    Tributes have flooded in on social media, with many calling her a hero.


    Since the 1 February coup, Myanmar has been gripped by mass protests demanding an end to military rule and the release of detained elected leaders.


    More than 54 people have been killed by security forces in the protests so far, according to the UN Human Rights Office, although other reports put the figure much higher. Wednesday was the bloodiest day since the coup, with 38 protesters killed in cities and towns across the country.


    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on security forces to "halt their vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters".


    Dozens of countries have now condemned the violence in Myanmar, though this has been largely ignored by the coup leaders.


    And Myanmar's ambassador to the UN, who was fired by the military after pleading for help to restore democracy, called for "the strongest international actions" against the military.


    "You see these last 3-4 days how many of our innocent and young lives have been taken away," Kyaw Moe Tun told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme in his first interview since he was replaced. "What we want for the people of Myanmar is protection."


    Meanwhile his deputy Tin Maung Naing, who the military appointed in his place, said he had resigned and that Kyaw Moe Tun was still ambassador, UN officials quoted by AFP said.


    IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS
    image captionAngel was shot dead on Wednesday while attending an anti-coup protest in Mandalay
    What happened to Angel?

    On Thursday in Mandalay, people lined the route of Angel's funeral procession.


    Mourners sang revolutionary songs and chanted anti-coup slogans, Reuters news agency reports.


    Images of the teenager wearing her "Everything will be OK" T-shirt at the protests had gone viral.


    Aware of the dangers of taking part in the protests, she had written her blood type details on Facebook and requested that her organs be donated in the event of her death.


    IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS
    image captionImages of Angel wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 'Everything will be OK' went viral online
    Myat Thu, who was with her at the protest on Wednesday, said she had kicked open a water pipe so protesters could wash tear gas from their eyes. She had also tried to help him as police opened fire.


    "She told me 'Sit! Bullets will hit you'," he told Reuters. "She cared for and protected others."







    He said police hit them with tear gas and then the bullets came.


    Myat Thu said Angel, who had proudly voted in elections for the first time last year, was a "happy girl".


    "She loved her family and her family loved her so much too," he said. "We are not in a war. There is no reason to use live bullets on people."


    People also paid tribute to Angel on social media. One friend wrote on Facebook: "My heart feels so my hurt."


    Another said: "Rest in peace my friend. We will fight this revolution to the end."


    Shalom

  13. #88
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    On the Australian ABC News last night there was a short video showing three ambulance men squatting or kneeling, whilst being kicked by policemen for the 'crime' of treating injured protesters.

    One of the policemen then reverses his rifle and beats one ambulance guy with the stock ....


    Pricks. You can see the policemens' faces, too.


    Last edited by Latindancer; 05-03-2021 at 05:46 PM.

  14. #89
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    But in Hoohoo's mind this is perfectly reasonable.

  15. #90
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Myanmar asks India to return eight police who fled across border

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Authorities in Myanmar have asked India to return several police officers who sought refuge to avoid taking orders from a military junta that seized power in the Southeast Asian country last month, an official in northeast India said on Saturday.


    Around 30 Myanmar police and their family members came across the border seeking refuge in recent days, as the junta’s suppression of protesters has turned increasingly violent, with dozens killed since the Feb. 1 coup.


    The senior-most official in Champhai, a district in the Indian state of Mizoram, told Reuters that she had received a letter from her counterpart in Myanmar’s Falam district requesting the return of eight police “in order to uphold friendly relations.”

    Deputy Commissioner Maria C.T. Zuali said on Saturday that she was “waiting for the direction” from the India’s Ministry for Home Affairs in New Delhi.


    Although there have been instances recounted on social media of police joining the civil disobedience movement and protests against the junta, this is the first reported case of police fleeing Myanmar.


    In the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, Myanmar authorities said they had information on eight police personnel who had crossed into India. The letter listed details for four police, aged between 22 and 25 years, including a female officer.

    “In order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbour countries, you are kindly requested to detain 8 Myanmar police personnel who had arrived to Indian territories and hand-over to Myanmar,” the letter said.


    India’s federal home ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters. India’s foreign ministry responded to a request for comment by referring to a statement given at a media briefing on Friday which said the ministry was still “ascertaining the facts.”


    Myanmar asks India to return eight police who fled across border | Reuters

  16. #91
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    So many posters in these threads , support the dissidents by default. Without realizing that they would never be a dissident themselves. They'd be going with the flow.

  17. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by taxexile View Post
    a rather disturbing clip of ambulance drivers being severely beaten up by burmese security forces.

    not for the faint hearted.





    for all those that continually glorify asia at the expense of the western societies they came from, be careful what you wish for for this is what lies just beneath the surface of many asian countries, including thailand.
    Indeed.

    However, you might see that sort of stuff in the west in 3rd world countries like the USA, but at least there'd be public outcry and the perpetrators would eventually be held accountable.

  18. #93
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    So many posters in these threads , support the dissidents by default. Without realizing that they would never be a dissident themselves. They'd be going with the flow.
    You're not edgy, you're not funny and you're certainly not intelligent.

    Just fuck off, you putrid wedge of knob cheese.

  19. #94
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS
    image captionProtesters remain defiant despite the rising death toll

    Myanmar has been gripped by mass protests demanding an end to military rule, and at least 55 protesters - many of them young activists - have been killed. BBC Burmese's Nyein Chan Aye has been reporting from the frontlines in Yangon - and this is what he saw.


    It's been more than a month since the military coup in Myanmar. People have endured internet blackouts, night-time raids, unlawful arrests, being chased down or beaten up in the streets, being shot at point-blank range, or being targeted by head or chest shots from long range.


    Several dozen protesters have been killed in less than a week. A teenage girl, wearing a shirt that read "Everything will be OK", died after being shot in the head.


    If you happen to be in a neighbourhood in Yangon in broad daylight these days, the smell of smoke is likely to hit you first more than anything. Small children taste tear gas or smoke bombs in their own homes. And there is not much else mothers can do but curse.


    IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS
    image captionPeople are getting used to the smell of smoke in Yangon's neighbourhoods
    Live rounds, rubber bullets, stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon, smoke bombs. You name it. Myanmar has seen all these already in less than a month.


    And yet new waves of protests take place every day.


    People have been boiling with rage over the junta's atrocities - but still the protesters are largely peaceful.


    Creative forms of defiance - including sarongs

    Students, monks, women, civil servants and even some police officers are joining in the movement against the regime. Some police taking part in the civil disobedience movement have been openly speaking out, saying they will no longer serve the military rulers and would rather serve the people.


    So far the opposition is organised and determined. You see different kinds of defiance from dawn to dusk.



    image captionClapping and singing has become a form of defiance
    Simply clapping or singing a song - or even hanging out sarongs (called htamein in Burmese) in front of high-rise buildings - have become nothing short of opposition to military rule. Why sarongs? People believe that soldiers are superstitious and afraid of sarongs, which may weaken their strength and spiritual power.


    As the demonstrations on the main roads were easily crushed by the security forces, protesters have started creating their own spaces in their neighbourhoods. Little fortresses made up of sand bags, rubbish bins filled with water or makeshift barricades can be seen almost everywhere in the city.


    People in the neighbourhoods are also extremely supportive of each other. Many can be seen distributing food or protective gear for free. A common wish has been to uproot the military dictatorship for the sake of future generations. At the same time, people are reminding each other to stay alive and well, and to continue the fight against the regime.


    Night-time banging of pots and pans, which people traditionally believe can drive evil out, has now been supplemented by home protests. People chant pro-democracy slogans at night from their balconies or sitting rooms to keep the fighting spirit alive amid all the deadly crackdowns.


    IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
    image captionFunerals of recent victims of the crackdown were held on Friday
    In many places the air resonates with the sounds of protest songs from previous uprisings against the military dictatorship, like "We won't forget until the end of the world" (Kabar Ma Kyay Bu in Burmese) or "Blood Oath" (Thway Thitsar). Or newly created songs by the younger generation like "Reject (the coup)" (Ah Lo Ma Shi) which vows: "We will fight to the end."


    Being out on the streets has become dangerous, so home is the only place for some people to vent their spleens. Some light candles and pray for those who died during demonstrations, affectionately called "Fallen Heroes".


    'Dictatorship must end'

    In the late evening, you may also see groups of young people run through the streets making the revolutionary three-fingered salute - a symbol of the rebellion against the military takeover.


    Street murals, cleverly created by young people, are also inevitable these days not just in Yangon but also in major cities across the country. Police loyal to the regime are kept busy late into the night trying to remove painted texts like "Reject the Military Coup" or "We Want Democracy".


    The next day, young people are sure to go somewhere else and paint on the streets again.





    media captionHannah says she is scared but the protests must continue until democracy is restored
    At the same time, people are outraged at the brutality from the military and are calling for a stronger international response.


    They are now becoming more frustrated than ever because the UN or South-East Asian regional body Asean cannot prevent the regime's barbaric acts. Bold declarations or statements, or even targeted sanctions by Western countries, do not seem to be enough for the people. Nor for the generals, who behave with arrogance towards the international community.


    In recent demonstrations, many placards I have seen read: "How many dead bodies are needed for the UN to take action?"


    But many people believe the best chance for the country's future may depend on young people and the momentum of the two wings of the ongoing anti-coup movements - street protest, and the civil disobedience campaign.



    image captionMany protesters are frustrated by what they see as a weak international response
    On one occasion, a protester with a youthful face with deep marks caused by regular use of gas masks during demonstrations removed his goggles and told me: "The military dictatorship must end in our era." He had written his blood type and a contact number for his next of kin on his helmet.


    Generation Z, who are playing a leading role in this movement, know that blood is a heavy price to pay, even though their generation has only just come up against this bitter experience of military rule.


    The nightmare of violence and terror may not go away easily, as Myanmar never completely got rid of its military junta legacy.


    However, the younger generation has shown its sheer grit and determination to take down the regime.


    Another young protester simply repeated the words: "The military dictatorship must end in our era."

  20. #95
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Exclusive: 'Shoot till they are dead' - Some Myanmar police say fled to India after refusing orders


    CHAMPHAI, India (Reuters) - When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot at protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them in the Myanmar town of Khampat on Feb. 27, the police lance corporal said he refused.


    “The next day, an officer called to ask me if I will shoot,” he said. The 27-year-old refused again, and then resigned from the force.


    On March 1, he said he left his home and family behind in Khampat and travelled for three days, mostly at night to avoid detection, before crossing into India’s northeastern Mizoram state.


    “I had no choice,” Tha Peng told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday, speaking via a translator. He gave only part of his name to protect his identity. Reuters saw his police and national ID cards which confirmed the name.


    Tha Peng said he and six colleagues all disobeyed the Feb. 27 order from a superior officer, whom he did not name.


    Reuters could not independently verify his or other accounts gathered near the Myanmar-India border.


    The description of events was similar to that given to police in Mizoram on March 1 by another Myanmar police lance corporal and three constables who crossed into India, according to a classified internal police document seen by Reuters.


    The document was written by Mizoram police officials and gives biographical details of the four individuals and their account of why they fled. It was not addressed to specific people.


    “As the Civil disobedience movement is gaining momentum and protest(s) held by anti-coup protesters at different places we are instructed to shoot at the protesters,” they said in a joint statement to Mizoram police.

    “In such a scenario, we don’t have the guts to shoot at our own people who are peaceful demonstrators,” they said.


    Myanmar’s military junta, which staged a coup on Feb. 1 and deposed the country’s civilian government, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.


    The junta has said it is acting with utmost restraint in handling what it has described as demonstrations by “riotous protesters” whom it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.


    Tha Peng’s is among the first cases reported by the media of police fleeing Myanmar after disobeying orders from the military junta’s security forces.


    Daily protests against the coup are being staged across the country and security forces have cracked down. More than 60 protesters have been killed and more than 1,800 detained, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group, has said.


    Reuters has not been able to confirm the figures independently.


    Among the detainees is Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the civilian government.


    DOZENS FLEE


    Around 100 people from Myanmar, mostly policemen and their families, have crossed over a porous border into India since the protests began, according to a senior Indian official.


    Several have taken shelter in Mizoram’s Champhai district bordering Myanmar, where Reuters interviewed three Myanmar nationals who said they had served with the police.


    As well as his ID cards, Tha Peng showed an undated photograph of him wearing a Myanmar police uniform. He said he joined the force nine years ago.


    Tha Peng said that, according to police rules, protesters should either be stopped by rubber bullets or shot below the knees. Reuters could not verify police policies.


    But he was given orders by his superiors to “shoot till they are dead,” he added.


    Ngun Hlei, who said he was posted as a police constable in the city of Mandalay, said he had also received orders to shoot. He did not give a date, nor specify whether the order was to shoot to kill. He did not give details of any casualties.


    The 23-year-old also gave only a part of his full name and carried his national ID card.


    Tha Peng and Ngun Hlei said they believed police were acting under orders from Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw. They did not provide evidence.


    The other four Myanmar police agreed, according to the classified police document.


    “...the military pressured the police force who are mostly constables to confront the people,” they said.


    Ngun Hlei said he was reprimanded for disobeying orders and transferred. He sought help from pro-democracy activists online and found his way by road to Mizoram’s Vaphai village on March 6.


    The journey to India cost him around 200,000 Myanmar kyat ($143), Ngun Hlei said.


    Although guarded by Indian paramilitary forces, the India-Myanmar border has a “free movement regime”, which allows people to venture a few miles into Indian territory without requiring travel permits.




    ‘DON’T WANT TO GO BACK’


    Twenty-four-year-old Dal said she had worked as a constable with Myanmar police in the mountainside town of Falam in northwestern Myanmar. Reuters saw a photograph of her police ID and verified the name.


    Her job was mostly administrative, including making lists of people detained by the police. But as protests swelled in the wake of the coup, she said she was instructed to try to catch female protesters - an order she refused.


    Fearing imprisonment for siding with the protesters and their civil disobedience movement, she said she decided to flee Myanmar.


    All three said that there was substantial support for the protesters within Myanmar’s police force.


    “Inside the police station, 90% support the protesters but there is no leader to unite them,” said Tha Peng, who left behind his wife and two young daughters, one six months old.


    Like some others who have crossed in recent days, the three are scattered around Champhai, supported by a network of local activists.


    Saw Htun Win, deputy commissioner of Myanmar’s Falam district last week wrote to Champhai’s top government official, Deputy Commissioner Maria C.T. Zuali, asking for eight policemen who had entered India to be returned to them “in order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbour countries.”


    Zuali confirmed she had received the letter, a copy of which has been seen by Reuters.


    Zoramthanga, Mizoram’s chief minister, told Reuters that his administration would provide temporary food and shelter to those fleeing Myanmar, but a decision on repatriations was pending with India’s federal government.


    Tha Peng said that although he missed his family he feared returning to Myanmar.


    “I don’t want to go back,” he said, sitting in a first-floor room overlooking rolling green hills that stretch into Myanmar.


    Exclusive: '''Shoot till they are dead''' - Some Myanmar police say fled to India after refusing orders | Reuters

  21. #96
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    This is exactly what happened in Libya. And it turned out to be bullshit.

    And how did Libya turn out after "freedom"? It's a total disaster. Just like Iraq or Ukraine. Supporting some limp wristed revolutionaries will just result in the failure of the institutions of state and then anarchy.

  22. #97
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Myanmar junta accuses Suu Kyi of taking bribes as eight killed in anti-coup protests


    (Reuters) - Myanmar’s military government accused deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday of accepting illegal payments, while eight people were killed when security forces opened fire on protests against the coup, witnesses said.

    Rights group Amnesty International accused the military of adopting battle tactics against demonstrators.


    Six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when forces fired on a protest, a man who took part in the demonstration and helped carry bodies to hospital told Reuters by telephone. A health worker there confirmed all six deaths.


    “We protested peacefully,” the 31-year-old man said. “I couldn’t believe they did it.”


    One person was killed in the North Dagon district of the biggest city of Yangon, witnesses said. Photographs posted on Facebook showed a man prone on the street, bleeding from a head wound. One death was reported in Mandalay.


    Before Thursday’s deaths, an advocacy group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, had said more than 60 protesters were killed and about 2,000 people detained by security forces since the Feb. 1 coup against Suu Kyi’s elected government.


    Amnesty International accused the army of using lethal force against protesters and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions.


    “These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions,” said Joanne Mariner, the group’s director of crisis response.


    “These are unrepentant commanders already implicated in crimes against humanity, deploying their troops and murderous methods in the open.”


    Junta spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told a news conference the security forces were disciplined and used force only when necessary. The unrest was not a situation that should be of concern to the international community and the West was making assumptions that were incorrect, he added.


    The military has previously said it is acting with utmost restraint in handling what it describes as demonstrations by “riotous protesters” whom it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.


    Zaw Min Tun also said that Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments worth $600,000 as well as gold while in government, according to a complaint by Phyo Mien Thein, a former chief minister of Yangon.


    “He strongly said that,” the spokesman said. “We have verified those facts several times. Now the anti-corruption committee is continuing the investigation.”

    Myanmar junta accuses Suu Kyi of taking bribes as eight killed in anti-coup protests | Reuters

  23. #98
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe 90 View Post
    Live rounds, rubber bullets, stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon, smoke bombs. You name it. Myanmar has seen all these already in less than a month.


    And yet new waves of protests take place every day.
    Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi 'detained by military', NLD party says-ysf-jpg

    Some every weekend for years.

  24. #99
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Some every weekend for years.
    We're not talking about Hong Kong here.

  25. #100
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Latindancer View Post
    showing three ambulance men squatting or kneeling
    SOP in some "exceptional" countries.

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