Myanmar Military Junta Sets Curfews, Crowd Controls After Days of Mass Protests

Myanmar’s military junta on Monday set curfews and other restrictions in major cities, unveiling the decrees as peaceful public protests across the country drew hundreds of thousands of marchers demanding the reinstatement of deposed Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government.

Weekend mass protests that drew tens of thousands in dozens of cities were followed by larger crowds Monday in Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw, where police fired a water cannon to disperse crowds, injuring one person before protesters blocked the vehicles that were hosing them down.

After a week of silence after the Feb. 1 putsch removed Aung San Suu Kyi and her government, arresting her and scores of officials, the junta issued decrees and coup leader and junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing appeared on state television to repeat the election fraud claims the army has used to justify the military takeover.

A junta statement carried on state-run MRTV and the military information committee website banned gatherings of more than five people as well as motorized processions, while imposing an 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew on a township-by-township basis in parts of Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s largest and second-biggest cities.

“Marching on foot or vehicles, inciting the public, destroying or rioting are all forbidden in Chan Aye Thar Zan Township,” said a warning broadcast in Mandalay.

Protesters are calling for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from detention and rejecting the new military government led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Protesters crowd an intersection in Nyapyitaw, Myanmar's capital and third-largest city, Feb. 8, 2021.
Protesters crowd an intersection in Nyapyitaw, Myanmar’s capital and third-largest city, Feb. 8, 2021.

In his first public speech since the coup, Min Aung Hlaing said Monday that the military had to take over because no attempt had been made by the authorities to address election fraud complaints raised by the army and its allies since the Nov. 8 elections.

He said the military government is “absolutely not going to change foreign policy, administrative policy, or economic policy” and would “continue along the same political path” of the ousted government.

Another election at the end of the one-year state of emergency and “we will protect and establish a real and disciplined democratic system,” Min Aung Hlaing said in a 20-minute televised speech that did not mention Aung San Suu Kyi or the swelling nationwide protests against the coup.

“After the emergency authority and term provided by the constitution, we will be holding a free and fair election in accordance with the 2008 constitution and will hand over the power to the elected government in accordance with democratic rules and values,” Min Aung Hlaing said in his speech.

MRTV on Monday made its first mention of the protests, describing them as a threat to stability in the country of 54 million people.

“Democracy can be destroyed if there is no discipline,” said a statement from the Ministry of Information, read on MRTV.  “We will have to take legal actions to prevent acts that are violating state stability, public safety and the rule of law.”

In Yangon, student protestors led crowds to march to city hall, where police and water cannon vehicles were blocking thoroughfares, witnesses told RFA.

In a counter-protest in support of the military coup in Yangon, around 500 people rode around on cars waving the national flag and posters “STOP.”

In Mandalay, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched on the main streets, according to witnesses. There are also widespread protests in population centers in Mon, Kayin, Shan and Rakhine states, as well as the regions of Tanintharyi and Irrawaddy, sources told RFA.

Monday’s crowds eclipsed those of a 2007 campaign against the military junta  led by Buddhist monks, and by some accounts rivaled those of the massive 1988 pro-democracy uprising that brought Aung San Suu Kyi to prominence. Both of those pro-democracy movements were put down by the military with deadly force and mass arrests.

Ministers in Aung San Suu Kyi’s government remain under house arrest or in detention, with the chief ministers of Yangon, Mandalay and Kayin states released and detained a second time after criticizing the coup.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a watchdog group, said Monday that 170 people have detained in relation to the military coup with only 18 released. Most are politicians, it said.

“They treated us like criminals. We are family members of elected government officials,” said Khin Mi Kywe, wife of Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein, who was detained for the second time on Feb. 5.

“Today is particularly important because government employees will protest by not working. I will go out and join the people in the protest. We will able to resist the military regime only when we act in unity,” she told RFA’s Myanmar Service.


Protesters join in a demonstration against the military coup in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, Feb. 8, 2021.
Protesters join in a demonstration against the military coup in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, Feb. 8, 2021.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

AFGE | Biden Removes All 10 Members of Anti-Worker Federal Service Impasses Panel

President Joe Biden has removed all members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) – the arm of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) tasked with resolving disputes between unions and federal agencies when they reach an impasse during negotiations.

FSIP has been used by the Trump administration to impose anti-worker, union-busting agency contract proposals on federal workers. AFGE had called on the Biden administration to remove FSIP members and appoint new ones. Our union applauds the Biden administration for taking swift action to prevent more damage done to the federal workforce.

Source: AFGE | Biden Removes All 10 Members of Anti-Worker Federal Service Impasses Panel

Myanmar Junta Bid to Draw in Ethnic Parties Met With Chilly Response

Political parties in Myanmar are largely refusing to take up roles in the military junta’s State Administrative Council government, rejecting the regime’s effort to draw in civilian and ethnic minority parties a week after it deposed democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials in a nonviolent coup.

The State Administrative Council (SAC) was formed a day after the Feb. 1 coup in which the country’s powerful military grabbed power from the civilian-led National League for Democracy government, and detained leaders, lawmakers, and state and regional chief ministers.

The military, called the Tatmadaw in Burmese, justified the takeover with the unsubstantiated claim that the landslide victory by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party in Nov. 8 elections was fraudulent. Outside observers judged the elections to be free and fair, and the country’s electoral body rejected the fraud claims.

The 15-member SAC, headed by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, is trying to broaden its base amid growing street protests across the country of 54 million people by inviting leaders of ethnic political parties that hold seats in border states. Many are also opponents of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).

Parties allied with the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) have accepted offers to be part of the junta government, but a range of other parties have turned down the offers to join Min Aung Hlaing’s government.

M Kawn La, chairman of the Kachin National Congress Party, said his party’s main goal is to get a mandate from the people, not simply to obtain power through the military government.

“We can do politics only with the people’s mandate,” he said. “Otherwise, we will become opportunists. That is why we made this decision [not to join the junta government].”

Gumgrawng Awng Hkam, second vice chairman of the Kachin State People’s Party, said his party can work for a future federal union only if the military or democratic forces hold trilateral talks with all ethnic groups, not just select parties.

“Otherwise, if things go on like this, we will never get any tangible results,” he said. “That’s why the best thing is to have a dialogue when talking about the future.”

Sai Nyunt Lwin, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, said the junta offered the party one position, but the SNLD turned it down.

“We didn’t accept it because we are not yet ready,” he said. “It has to be something agreed to by all.”

Ye Naing Aung, general secretary of the People’s Party, a political party set up in 2018 by members of the 88 Generation activist group that grew out of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, also said that party members decided not to accept any positions from the military government, but did not elaborate.

The Kachin National Party, the Asho Chin National Party, and the Chin National League for Democracy have also made statements or told reporters they would refuse to accept any offers for positions with the SAC.

One ethnic party, the Mon Unity Party, has agreed to take a seat on the SAC, assigning Banya Aung Myo, an elected lawmaker, to the position, party officials said.

“In the past, we all have taken the confrontational route, and along the way many people as well as students and monks shed a lot of blood, [while] many others sacrificed their lives,” said party secretary Nai Letama.

“Based on that experience, we now want to avoid a confrontational way that could lead to bloodshed, so we’ve decided to accept the offer hoping to find a solution through cooperation.”

Reported by RFA’s Myamar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

A Wartime Economy: Germany Needs to Give Vaccine Production a Shot in the Arm

It only took pharmaceuticals producer BioNTech a few months to set up a new vaccine factory in Germany. Berlin should use the case as an example in efforts to boost production of the medicines urgently needed to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

It only took pharmaceuticals producer BioNTech a few months to set up a new vaccine factory in Germany. Berlin should use the case as an example in efforts to boost production of the medicines urgently needed to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.