Deadly Violence Resumes in Myanmar After Peaceful Protests

Violence has returned to Myanmar after demonstrators protesting last month’s military coup held small, peaceful marches before dawn and avoided confrontations with security forces who have shot and killed scores of their countrymen in recent days.

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YANGON, MYANMAR (AP) — At least two people protesting last month's military coup were reported shot and killed by security forces Tuesday after a morning of peaceful marches in parts of Myanmar.

Security forces have killed scores of their countrymen in recent days, and the U.N. has put the nationwide death toll at 149 since the Feb. 1 coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.

The independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said 183 people have been killed since the coup.

Violence was reported Tuesday in the biggest city, Yangon, where casualties have been the highest. Police fired rubber bullets in several neighborhoods, and one man was reported killed. Another killing was reported in Kawlin city in the northwestern Sagaing Region.

U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said at least 11 people were killed Monday, adding to 57 deaths over the weekend. While there were many more reports of killings, it was unable to corroborate them.

“The killing of demonstrators, arbitrary arrests and the reported torture of prisoners violate fundamental human rights and stand in clear defiance of calls by the Security Council for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar’s democratic path,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades had languished under strict military rule that led to international isolation and sanctions.

Protesters in some areas have recently used tactics meant to avoid violent confrontations. On Tuesday, social media reports said candlelight marches before sunrise were held in Mawlamyaing in Mon State in southeastern Myanmar.

Another tactic has been to use signboards as proxies for human protesters, placing them in rows in public places. This tactic was reported to have been used by a group of engineers in the second-biggest city, Mandalay, in central Myanmar.

More conventional peaceful protests of the sort that have been occurring daily were held without incident Tuesday in Monywa and Ye-U in central Myanmar, the city of Loikaw in the eastern state of Kayaw, and Kalaw in Southern Shan State, also in the east.

Complicating efforts to organize new protests as well as media coverage, cellphone internet service was cut Sunday night, although access was still available through fixed broadband connections.

Mobile data service had been used to stream live video coverage of protests, often showing security forces attacking demonstrators. It previously had been turned off only from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. for several weeks, with no official explanation.

Sunday’s violence in Yangon — virtually all by police — led to the greatest single-day death toll since the coup. Myanmar’s ruling junta declared martial law in a large part of the city.

The martial law announcements said the junta, formally called the State Administrative Council, acted to enhance security and restore law and order, and that the Yangon regional commander has been entrusted with administrative, judicial and military powers in the area under his command. The orders cover six of Yangon’s 33 townships.

The greatest violence and most deaths were reported in Yangon’s Hlaing Thar Yar township, an industrial area of many factories that supply the garment industry, a major export earner for Myanmar. Several factories, many of which are Chinese-owned, were set ablaze Sunday by unknown parties, provoking the ire of Beijing.

Thousands of the township’s residents in cars, taxis, pickup trucks, on motorcycles and on foot jammed roads out of the area Tuesday. Some sought safety, while others no longer have jobs.

Protesters in the past week have responded to increased police violence by taking a more aggressive approach to self-defense, burning tires at barricades and pushing back when they can against attacks.

The Committee Representing Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw, comprising elected members of Parliament who were not allowed to take their seats, said Sunday the general public has the legal right to self-defense against security forces.

The CRPH, which operates underground inside the country and with representatives abroad, has established itself as a shadow government that claims to be the sole legitimate representative body of Myanmar’s citizens. It has been declared an illegal treasonous organization by the junta.

State television MRTV announced Tuesday evening that a leading figure in the CRPH, known as Dr. Sasa, was charged with high treason, which carries a death sentence.

Sasa, a medical doctor who uses a single name, is a member of the Chin ethnic minority and was appointed a special U.N. envoy by the CRPH, is accused of stirring up internal conflict and acting against the junta, which claims to be the sole legitimate ruling body despite having ousted an elected government.

Sasa is the public face of the Myanmar resistance in the international arena, even though he reportedly is in hiding. He has spoken frequently with the international press by video conference. He also has connected by video with foreign diplomats, U.N. officials and other junta opponents, including members of ethnic minorities who maintain their own guerrilla armies.