Myanmar security forces kill seven protesters. Chinese-owned factory burns down

(Reuters) – Myanmar troops on Wednesday fired on protesters, killing at least seven people and wounding several others, the media said while a Chinese-owned factory in the commercial capital of Yangon caught fire and activists burned the Chinese flag.

The country’s military ruler has said civil disobedience “destroys” Myanmar.

According to an activist group, more than 580 people have been killed in the unrest in Myanmar since a February 1 coup that ended a short period of civil democracy. Nationwide protests and strikes have continued ever since, despite the army’s use of deadly force to suppress the opposition.

Security forces opened fire on protesters in the northern city of Kale on Wednesday demanding the restoration of Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, a resident told Reuters.

Newspapers quoted witnesses as saying there were casualties and repeated gunfire. According to the newspapers Mizzima and Irrawaddy, five people were killed and several wounded.

The Kale resident said the information was provided to him by witnesses who took five bodies.

Reuters could not independently verify the toll.

Two protesters were killed in the city of Bago near Yangon, the Myanmar Now news agency said.

A fire broke out in the JOC Garment Factory in Yangon on Wednesday, news reports and the fire department said. There were no reports of casualties and no details of the extent of the damage.

In another district in Yangon, activists set the Chinese flag on fire, according to photos posted on Facebook.

China is seen as supporting the military junta and last month there were arson attacks on 32 Chinese investment factories in Yangon.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta’s head, said in a statement on Wednesday that the civil disobedience movement or CDM had halted the work of hospitals, schools, roads, offices and factories.

“Although protests are taking place in neighboring countries and the international community, they are not destroying businesses,” he said. “CDM is an activity to destroy the country.”

According to the advocacy group of the Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 581 people, including dozens of children, have been shot dead by troops and police in almost daily unrest since the coup, and security forces have arrested nearly 3,500 people, with another 2,750 detained.

JUNTA ‘LOSS CONTROL’

The ability of the mostly anti-coup led by the youth to organize campaigns and share information via social media and instant messaging is severely hampered by curbs on broadband wireless internet and mobile data services.

Landline services, which are scarce in Myanmar, are available.

“Myanmar has been subject to a gradual collapse of the information abyss since February,” Alp Toker, founder of the Internet blockchain observatory NetBlocks, told Reuters.

“Communication is now very limited and only available to a few.”

As the print media also ceased, protesters sought solutions to convey their message, producing their own daily A4-size pamphlets that are digitally shared and printed for distribution to the public.

Hundreds of people have issued warrants, and the junta goes to numerous influencers, entertainers, artists and musicians this week.

The country’s most famous comedian, Zarganar, was arrested on Tuesday, media reported.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has discussed how Britain and the international community could support an effort to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said after meeting his British counterpart in Jakarta has.

Indonesia is one of the countries in Southeast Asia that is making a high-level demand on Myanmar.

Western countries, including the United States, Britain, and Australia, have sanctioned or intensified the generals’ and the military’s vast network of business monopolies in response to the coup, detention, and use of lethal force against protesters.

The European Union is expected to follow suit.

Russia, which has shown support for the ruling military council of Myanmar, said on Tuesday that the West was risking civil war by imposing sanctions on the junta.

Fitch Solutions released in a report on Wednesday that targeted Western sanctions are unlikely to succeed in restoring democracy. It predicted in the medium term a violent revolution that would set the army against an armed opposition, consisting of members of the anti-coup movement and ethnic militias.

Some ethnic minority forces, which control large parts of border regions, said they could not stand by as the junta killed people and the army was already engaged in skirmishes.

Fitch said Myanmar is on track to be a failed state.

“The increasing violence against civilians and ethnic militias shows that the Tatmadaw (army) is increasingly losing control of the country,” he said, adding that the vast majority of people have support for the ousted government of Suu Kyi.