The UN Secretary-General has selected hundreds of peaceful protesters against coups by Myanmar security forces in the suburb of Yangon, while demanding their release “without violence or arrests”.
The country in Southeast Asia has been in turmoil since a February 1 coup, ousting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and sparking massive protests against the new military junta.
The police and army responded with an increasingly brutal battle against protesters, with more than 50 people dead and taken nearly 1,800 arrested.
As protesters across the country sought to paralyze the economy with a strike after a weekend of raids and arrests, security forces on Monday night blocked about 200 protesters “to leave a four-street area” in Sanchaung municipality in the country’s largest city Yangon . according to the UN Office of Justice.
The Associated Press reports that security forces are conducting door-to-door searches for those seeking refuge in the homes of sympathetic strangers.
The news of their plight quickly spread on social media and people flocked to the streets in neighborhoods across the city to show solidarity and in the hope of putting pressure on the hunted protesters. In some streets they have built temporary barriers.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been following the developments “very closely”, especially in the township “where hundreds of peaceful protesters have been bursting for hours in residential areas”, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters.
According to an AFP reporter, sharp loud bangs could be heard coming from the area, although it was not immediately clear whether the sounds were caused by gunfire or stun grenades.
Repeated screams were audible in a live Facebook stream.
“I have just escaped from Sanchaung,” Maung Saungkha, an activist, wrote on Twitter.
“Nearly 200 young protesters are still being blocked by the police and soldiers there. The local and international community must help them now! ”
Around 10pm, ‘police started firing and making arrests’, said UN spokesperson Liz Throssell, although she said it was ‘unclear whether they were arresting trapped protesters or newly arrived protesters’.
The UN and embassies in Yangon – including those of the United States and the former colonial power Britain – urged security forces to free the protesters.
‘There is increased tension caused by security forces around Kyun Taw Road in Sanchaung Township, Yangon. “We call on the security forces to withdraw and allow people to return home safely,” the U.S. embassy said.
By midnight in Myanmar, there were still no reports of clashes between police and protesters, though security forces chased crowds, harassed residents who were looking through the windows and fired stun grenades. There are also reports of injuries from rubber bullets, reports the AP.
Guterres insisted on “maximum restraint” and “the safe release of all without violence or arrest”, Dujarric told reporters, adding that “many of the trapped women marched peacefully to commemorate International Women’s Day”.
The statement comes after three protesters were shot dead on Monday.
Guterres also called the occupation of a number of public hospitals in Myanmar by security forces “completely unacceptable”, the UN spokesman said.
In the northern city of Myitkyina, security forces used tear gas and opened fire during street clashes with protesters throwing stones.
There was grim footage of bleeding bodies lying on beds while health workers frantically tried to revive them.
One man was also seen lying face down, waving part of his skull.
“Two men were shot dead on the spot, while three others, including a woman, were shot in the arm,” a doctor told AFP.
A third protester was shot dead in the city of Pyapon in the Irrawaddy Delta region, an eyewitness and a rescue official told AFP.
It was also a dark day for independent media in the country as security forces raided the Myanmar Now office in Yangon.
The publishing license was later revoked, as were the independent media Mizzima, DVB, Khit Thit and 7Day, following an order from the Ministry of Information, state broadcaster MRTV said.
“These media companies may no longer broadcast, write or provide information using any form of media platform or using any media technology,” the military government told state broadcaster MRTV.
All five offered extensive coverage of the protests, often with a live video online.
The media pattern follows the closure of banks, shops, malls and some clothing factories on Monday following a call by unions for a general strike to bring the economy to a standstill.
“To continue the economic and business activities as usual … will only benefit the army because they are suppressing the energy of the Myanmar people,” 18 unions said in a statement.
“The time has come to act in defense of our democracy.”
Trade unions seek to set up an ongoing “civil disobedience movement” – a campaign urging civil servants to boycott military rule that has already hit state machinery hard.
The impact is felt at all levels of the national infrastructure, with disruption of hospitals, empty service offices and banks unable to work.
The junta warned that civil servants would be “fired” with immediate effect if they continued to strike.