In many districts of the largest city, Yangon, on Saturday and Sunday, witnesses reported sounds of gunfire and stun grenades. Frightened residents watched and filmed how security forces raided residential areas in the city and made several arrests. Residents told Reuters police fired shots and did not give reasons for the arrests, which continued into the early hours of Sunday morning.
“On the night of his arrest, Khin Maung Latt was tortured to death in his cell,” AAPP said in a news release on Sunday. Reports of bruises on Khin Maung Latt’s head and body have raised suspicions that he was abused, Ba Myo Thein, the NLD legislator, told Reuters.
CNN is unable to independently verify this report and the details surrounding the death of Khin Maung Latt are not immediately clear.
Khin Maung Latt worked as a campaign manager for one of the two Muslim legislatures elected in 2020. Mourners gathered for his funeral Sunday in Yangon.
Fear of hospital occupation
According to local media Myanmar Now, Myanmar troops were seen occupying hospitals and universities in Yangon and Mandalay over the weekend. Activists fear that their presence could hamper the treatment of wounded protesters or make arrests possible.
The international group Doctors for Human Rights on Monday condemned the “invasion and occupation of public hospitals and unprovoked violence against civilians”.
“If it had not been obvious before, it is now absolutely clear: the Myanmar army will not stop violating the rights of the people of Myanmar until the international community takes decisive action to prevent these outrageous acts and to account for, “the group said in a statement.
Doctors for Human Rights said the military occupation of hospitals ” is a violation of international law – which only serves to further a health care system already plagued by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent military coup. undermine. ‘
“This widespread siege of hospitals follows several days of prominent civilian injuries and casualties, and can be interpreted as a direct attempt to obstruct access to the care of civilians,” reads a statement from Sandra Mon, of the Center for Public health and human rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“It is also a threat to the attendance of medics to warn them against further treatment of injured protesters. The Myanmar army has impunity despite their deliberate acts of the night. We may see a nationwide surge in military retaliation against peaceful protesters. and medics in the days to come. ‘
Myanmar unions called for a nationwide strike on Monday as part of a civil disobedience campaign against the coup. Eighteen unions from major industries, including agriculture, energy, mining, construction, food and transport, called for a “complete cessation of the Myanmar economy.”
“The labor organizations of Myanmar stand united in support of a comprehensive nationwide strike against the military coup and for the future of Myanmar democracy,” reads a joint statement. “No one can force any citizen of Myanmar to work; we are not now slaves of the military junta and never will be.”
Meanwhile, women’s groups called on people to turn up on Monday to celebrate International Women’s Day, and to ‘fly’ their Htamains (sarongs) as part of the anti-junta movement. Images showed women marching with their Htamains waving like flags behind them, or hanging over streets in front of barriers.
While protests continued Monday, at least two people were killed in the northern city of Myitkyina after police opened fire on protesters, according to Reuters witnesses. Several others were injured in the violence.
Weekend of violence
The call to strike follows massive protests on Sunday that, according to Myanmar Now, were violently suppressed by the military. According to reports, security forces fired live ammunition and rubber bullets into cities across the country, including Mandalay and Nyaung-U – near the ancient city and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bagan.
Myanmar’s military personnel were filmed beating a man in the streets of Mandalay, and in Nyaung-U footage obtained by Reuters showed security forces marching in the streets in riot gear with painters firing live and rubber bullets. then protesters took the cover.
Images from local media show the bullets in the hands of protesters used against them. Eyewitnesses told CNN that police are also holding small daggers, forcing protesters to disperse.
At least 1,790 people have been detained, arrested, charged or sentenced by the military junta, according to the watchdog group AAPP, since taking power.
AAPP said the junta was deliberately terrorizing residents with live ammunition in Yangon.
AAPP said: “After brutal action against peaceful protests by police and army yesterday (Saturday), brutal acts continued into the night, raids on residential areas and homes, gunfire and illegal searches and detention,” AAPP said.
The deadly violence against protesters has attracted hundreds of thousands of people to take part in protests and civil disobedience campaigns in towns and cities across the country. A handful of them were police personnel who broke the ranks to join the protesters.
Last week, an official in the western state of Chin – which borders India and Bangladesh – requested the arrest and return of eight police personnel seeking refuge in the Indian state of Mizoram.
In the letter to his Indian counterpart, the deputy commissioner in the Falam district in Myanmar said that they should be returned in order to maintain friendly relations. According to a letter CNN received from the eight officials, four are in their twenties.
At a news conference, Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson for the Indian Foreign Ministry, said: “From now on, we know the facts. We will return as soon as we have more information.”
Srivastava said India was closely monitoring the situation in Myanmar. “We are in talks with our partner countries on this. We said earlier that the issue should be resolved peacefully,” he said.
Meanwhile, Australia on Monday said it had suspended a bilateral defense program with the military in Myanmar following the coup and the “increasing violence and rising death toll,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.
The program was limited to non-combat areas such as training in English, but was criticized by rights groups for involvement in the military despite documented abuse and conflict in ethnic states. Critics also cited the 2017 military offensive against Rohingya civilians in the state of Rakhine, which forced 740,000 people to flee to neighboring Bangladesh and demanded a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Payne said in a statement that Australia’s aid program would once again focus on ‘the immediate humanitarian needs of the vulnerable and poor, including the Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities.’
CNN’s Philip Wang, Zahid Mahmood, Vedika Sud and Sarah Faidell reported.