A Facebook message from the Bago University Students’ Union said the military had charged 120,000 Myanmar kyat ($ 85) to families to fetch the bodies of relatives who had died. According to Bachelet, there are also reports that the army has prevented medical personnel from helping the wounded.
“There is a clear echo of Syria in 2011. There have also been peaceful protests with unnecessary and clearly out of proportion,” she said. “The state’s brutal, persistent oppression of its own people has led some individuals to take up arms, followed by a downward and rapidly growing spiral of violence across the country.”
Bachelet said countries “do not allow the deadly mistakes of the past to be repeated in Syria and elsewhere.”
More than 700 people, including children, have been killed since the army overthrew Myanmar’s elected government in a February 1 coup, according to AAPP. Since then, junta security forces consisting of police, soldiers and elite insurgent troops have begun a systematic suppression of unarmed and peaceful protesters, detaining about 3,000 people, often in checkpoint, and forcing activists to hide.
Bachelet’s statement comes when anti – coup activists called for a week of protests to coincide with the annual New Year’s holiday, known as Thingyan. Tuesday was the first day of the five-day holiday, which is usually celebrated with prayers, ritual cleansing of Buddha statues in temples and jubilant public water fights on the street.
Instead of the traditional water festivals and dance performances, the opponents of the coup said they would not celebrate this year, and according to Reuters, show their anger against the generals who seized the country through low challenges and challenges.
“We are not celebrating Myanmar Thingyan this year because more than 700 of our innocent brave souls have been killed,” said one Twitter user named Shwe Ei.
In several villages, protesters marched through the streets with traditional seven-flowered Thingyan pots and twigs on display at this time of year. Many people painted the protesters’ three-finger salute on their pots. According to Reuters, other messages such as ‘Save Myanmar’ have been muted in silent displays of opposition to the military.
However, the violence continued in some parts. In the city of Tamu in the northern part of the Sagaing region on Myanmar’s border with India, junta forces struck barricades and fired at people’s homes, AAPP reported. A man and a woman were shot dead by soldiers while delivering milk in the city, AAPP and several other local media reported.
CNN has targeted Myanmar’s military for comment.
Daily internet restrictions on wireless data and broadband services have led to information dropping a bit, especially in areas far from the big cities.
In her statement, Bachelet said the “vast majority of people” were left “without access to important sources of information and communication.”
“The mass arrests have forced hundreds of people to hide, and reports suggest that many journalists, civil society activists, celebrities and other public figures are wanted, many simply because of the differences of opinion they have expressed online,” she said. said.
Myanmar, the military news channel Myawaddy TV, on Tuesday broadcast photos of 20 health workers who they said were charged with incitement because they were associated with the civil disobedience movement. Since the start of the coup, medics have been at the forefront of protests against military rule, and junta forces have occupied health workers, ambulances and dozens of hospitals.
The junta has been broadcasting a “wanted list” on the 20-hour broadcast over the past few weeks with photos of celebrities, journalists, actors and artists charged under Section 505 (a) of the Criminal Code.
The legislation makes it a crime to “obstruct, disturb, damage and cause” the motivation, discipline, health, conduct “of civil servants and military personnel and cause their hatred, disobedience or infidelity towards the government or army.
The coup put an end to Myanmar’s gradual opening to democracy, which saw ten years of reform after half a century of military rule. In addition to the street protests and resistance to the junta, thousands of striking workers and civil servants are taking part in the civil disobedience movement that is disrupting the economy.
“The country’s economy, education and health infrastructure have been brought to the brink of collapse, leaving millions of people in Myanmar without livelihoods, basic services and increasing food security,” Bachelet said.
She called on affected countries to suspend the supply of weapons and finances to the Myanmar army to stop the “commission of serious human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity”.
“Condemnations and limited targeted sanctions are clearly not enough,” she said.
CNN’s Angus Watson and Reuters reported.