YANGON (MYANMAR) – Undaunted by the deployment of armoured vehicles in different parts of Myanmar, protesters continued with their demand for the release of arrested leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday.
She has been under arrest since the coup on Feb. 1 and was expected to be produced in court on Monday with regard to charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios. A judge said her remand lasted until Wednesday, said her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw.
The nation witnessed the biggest protests in more than a decade following the coup and the arrest of Nobel Peace laureate. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets slamming the military’s takeover of the government, which has derailed the nation’s transition to democracy.
“This is a fight for our future, the future of our country,” youth activist Esther Ze Naw said in the capital city.
“We don’t want to live under a military dictatorship. We want to establish a real federal union where all citizens, all ethnicities are treated equally.”
The civil unrest in the country has brought back memories of bloody protests against half a century of military rule which came to an end in 2011 when it began withdrawing from civilian politics.
This time, however, violence is limited. Police had to open fire in order to disperse mobs of protesters at a power plant in the northern part of the country. It is not clear if they used rubber bullets or live rounds.
The military is also facing a strike by government workers, which is part of a civil disobedience movent, crippling the functioning of the government.
In Yangon, armour-plated vehicles could be seen on Sunday and the scene was the same in the northern town of Myitkyina and Sittwe in the west.
More soldiers were deployed on the streets to help police and they include members of the 77th Light Infantry Division, which is notorious for its brutal campaigns against ethnic minority insurgents.
On Monday, near the Sule Pagoda in Yangon, more than a dozen police vehicles along with four water cannon trucks were seen. It is one of the main sites of the demonstrations.
Outside the central bank, more than a hundred people assembled silently holding placards seeking support for the civil disobedience movement. Witnesses said there were six armoured trucks with troops nearby.
In Naypyitaw, police arrested 20 high school students who were protesting. Images circulating on social media showed them chanting slogans as they were whisked away in a bus by policemen.
“Remember, we don’t swear at the police and don’t sign anything at the police station,” one student can be heard saying.
There were also images of protesters marching in Naypyitaw carrying photographs of Suu Kyi with the message: “we want our leader”.