Monks take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 11, 2021. —AFP picYANGON, March 26 — Myanmar activists have called for major anti-coup protests this weekend as the junta marks Armed Forces Day, after a firebomb attack on deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party headquarters.
The attack left only minor damage, but the party has been in disarray since the coup, with many of its top leaders including Suu Kyi in detention and some of its MPs in hiding. This has infuriated the authorities, who have used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds to break up street demonstrations, and arrested people suspected of supporting the civil disobedience campaign.
“When the police tried to break up the crowd of protesters, a man was shot and killed,” said a lawmaker from Phyu township, adding that the deceased was a university student who was shot in the face. In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, doctors’ white coats with black ribbons spray painted on them were hung at a clinic’s entrance — in apparent mourning for victims killed in the unrest.
But some protesters continued to take to the streets — with thousands marching through central Monywa and northern Hpakant. The Karen National Union , a key ethnic rebel group, released a letter Friday addressed to junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing, acknowledging an invitation from the regime to meet.