Bloody protests continue: Myanmar military arrests more politicians

Thursday February 11, 2021

Bloody protests continue
Myanmar military arrests more politicians

The situation after the military coup in Myanmar remains tense. Hundreds of thousands of people are still demonstrating. The military has meanwhile arrested six other high-ranking politicians from the disempowered government, including Aung San Suu Kyi's advisor.

The military in Myanmar arrested other members of the disempowered government of Aung San Suu Kyi late in the evening. At least six high-ranking politicians, including a close adviser to the 75-year-old, have been arrested, reported the newspaper "The Irrawaddy". Members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party had previously openly shown their support for the nationwide protests against the coup.

The military reverted to power on the night of February 1 and took the former freedom icon Suu Kyi and numerous other politicians into custody. The junta has declared a year of emergency and appointed a new cabinet. The official reason given by the army was fraud in the November parliamentary election, which the NLD had clearly won.

"The world is behind us"

The demonstrations in Myanmar continued unabated today. There was a major rally in front of the Chinese embassy in Rangoon (officially today Yangon). Participants accused the Beijing leadership of supporting the junta. "The world is behind us, but China is behind the military regime," read a poster.

In the northern city of Mandalay, colorfully dressed artists took to the streets to call for the restoration of the civilian government. Bank employees and Deutsche Bahn employees also took part in the demos. In addition, according to reports on social networks, numerous members of ethnic minorities in the multi-ethnic state also joined the protests. At first it was peaceful. On Tuesday, the police tried to disperse demonstrators with water cannons and rubber balls. There was also sharp shooting, a young woman is in critical condition.