Yangon: Myanmar faced increasing isolation on Thursday as further more restrictions on internet services hampered the ability of opponents of military rule to organise and report on violence, but protesters still rallied in defiance of a deadly crackdown.
While the security forces have focused on stamping out dissent in the commercial capital Yangon and other cities since a military coup ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, small demonstrations have erupted elsewhere.
Several thousand people marched in the central town of Natmauk on Thursday, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported. Natmauk is the birthplace of Aung San, who is still revered as the leader of Myanmar’s drive for independence from colonial power Britain, and is Suu Kyi’s father.
Security forces have used increasingly violent tactics to suppress daily demonstrations. The documented total of those killed in the unrest stands at 217, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said, but the actual toll is probably much higher,
Coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing took part in a video conference with other Southeast Asian defence chiefs, his first international engagement since seizing power, state television showed.
There was no indication the Myanmar crisis was discussed.
Western countries have condemned the coup and called for an end to the violence and for the release of Suu Kyi and others detained since the coup. Asian neighbours have offered to help find a solution, but the military has shown no sign of seeking reconciliation.
The army has defended its coup, saying its accusations of fraud in a November 8 election swept by Suu Kyi’s party were rejected by the electoral commission. It has promised a new election but not set a date.
MOTORBIKE PROTESTS:
About 1,000 protesters on motorbikes drove around the central town of Taungoo on Thursday and hundreds marched in the northern jade-mining town of Hpakant, the Irrawaddy news service reported.
Protesters also gathered in the central town of Monywa after a 24-year-old campaigner against military rule died, three days after security forces detained and beat him, the Irrawaddy and Myanmar Now news portal reported.
A junta spokesman did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.
Opponents of the coup also gathered in some neighbourhoods of Yangon, which has seen the worst of the weeks of violence. Parts of the city are under martial law.
In one district, security forces opened fire and torched protesters’ barricades, detaining 20 people, the Irrawaddy reported. There were unconfirmed reports of one person wounded.
Yangon residents said soldiers also ordered people to dismantle barricades and remove posters on some streets.
Authorities have restricted the internet services that protesters use to organise and post reports and pictures, with access to Wi-Fi in public areas largely shut off by Thursday.
Residents of some towns, including Dawei in the south, reported no internet at all.
The private Tachilek News Agency in the northeast published photographs of workers cutting cables it said were the fibre links with neighbouring Thailand.
Reuters could not verify the report.
Information within Myanmar is becoming increasingly difficult to verify. Some 37 journalists have been arrested, including 19 who remain in detention, the UN human rights office said.
While authorities have ordered some newspapers shut, others have apparently been forced to close for reasons of logistics. The last private newspaper stopped publishing on Wednesday.
State-run media have not been affected.
REFUGEES:
The junta has stepped up its efforts against Suu Kyi. The Nobel peace laureate, 75, is hugely popular for her struggle against military rule since 1988, during which time she has spent years in detention.
State television said on Wednesday she was being investigated for bribery in connection with accepting four payments worth $550,000 from a businessman.
The junta said last week that authorities were investigating her for receiving illegal payments. Her lawyer dismissed that accusation as a joke. He was not available for comment on Thursday.
Suu Kyi, who is being held in an undisclosed location, already faces various charges including illegally importing walkie-talkie radios and infringing coronavirus protocols. If convicted, she could be barred from politics and face imprisonment.
On Myanmar’s border with Thailand, hundreds of people who have fled towns and cities are sheltering in areas controlled by ethnic insurgents, an official from the Karen National Union (KNU) said.
They included strike leaders, government staff, deserters from the police and military, and MPs from the ousted government, said Padoh Saw Taw Nee, whose KNU has been fighting the Myanmar army for decades.
Thai authorities were bracing for a surge of refugees and have set aside areas to shelter more than 43,000 people in Mae Sot district, according to plans seen by Reuters.
The United Nations food agency said this week that rising prices of food and fuel meant many poor families faced shortages and hunger.
“Whatever happens in Myanmar over coming months, the economy will collapse, leaving tens of millions in dire straits and needing urgent protection,” historian and author Thant Myint-U said on Twitter.
