Minggu, 14 Februari 2021

Myanmar experiencing 'near-total internet shutdown' - CNA

YANGON: Myanmar cut internet service and deployed troops around the country on Monday (Feb 15) in signs of a feared crackdown on anti-coup protests, hours after security forces fired to disperse a demonstration in the country's north.

The military government has escalated efforts to quell a burgeoning civil disobedience campaign which is demanding a return of the country's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Monday's internet shutdown and a request from the United Nations for an observer to be allowed in came soon after live-stream images shared on social media platforms showed military vehicles and soldiers moving through some parts of the country.

Monitoring group NetBlocks said the "state-ordered information blackout" had taken Myanmar almost entirely offline.

Anti-coup protesters hold placards and posters
Anti-coup protesters hold placards and posters with an image of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they gather outside the UN Information Office in Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: AP)

Troops in Myitkyina fired tear gas then shot at a crowd who gathered in the northern city to stop a rumoured shutdown of the electricity grid.

A journalist at the scene said it was unclear whether police had used rubber bullets or live rounds.

'REFRAIN FROM VIOLENCE'

Local media outlets said at least five journalists monitoring the protest had been detained and published pictures of some people wounded in the incident.

A joint statement from the US, British and European Union ambassadors urged security forces not to harm civilians.

"We call on security forces to refrain from violence against demonstrators, who are protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government," they said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed that call, pushing authorities to "ensure the right of peaceful assembly is fully respected and demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals".

Through his spokesman, Guterres also asked the military to "urgently" allow Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener to visit Myanmar "to assess the situation first hand".

Anti-coup protesters hold posters
Anti-coup protesters hold posters as they gather outside the UN Information Office in Yangon, Myanmar on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: AP)

The US embassy advised American citizens to shelter in place and not risk defying an overnight curfew imposed by the regime.

UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews said the military government's efforts to rein in the country's burgeoning protest movement was a sign of "desperation" and amounted to a declaration of war against its own people.

"Attention generals: You WILL be held accountable," he wrote on Twitter.

Much of the country has been in uproar since soldiers detained Aung San Suu Kyi and her top political allies on Feb 1, ending a decade-old fledgling democracy after generations of military rule.

The Nobel laureate spent years under house arrest during an earlier dictatorship and has not been seen in public since she was detained.

An internet blackout last weekend failed to quell resistance that has seen huge crowds throng big urban centres and isolated frontier villages alike.

Striking workers who spearheaded the campaign are among at least 400 people to have been detained since the coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group said.

MILITARY UNMOVED BY CONDEMNATION

But fear of arrest did not deter big crowds from returning to the streets around the country for a ninth straight day of street protests on Sunday.

In the southern city of Dawei, seven police officers broke ranks to join anti-coup protesters, mirroring local media reports of isolated defections from the force in recent days.

Parts of the country had in recent days formed neighbourhood watch brigades to monitor their communities and prevent the arrests of residents joining the civil disobedience movement.

READ: Myanmar junta warns public not to hide fugitive protesters

"We don't trust anyone at this time, especially those with uniforms," said Myo Ko Ko, a member of a street patrol in Yangon.

Near the city's central train station, residents rolled tree trunks onto a road to block police vehicles and escorted away officers who were attempting to return striking railway employees to work.

A man holds up a large image of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi
A man holds up a large image of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi with a sign that reads: "We want our leader. Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi" as anti-coup protesters gather outside the UN Information Office in Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb 14, 2021.  (Photo: AP)

The country's new military leadership has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation.

An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday called for the new regime to release all "arbitrarily detained" people and for the military to hand power back to Aung San Suu Kyi's administration.

The military government insists it took power lawfully and has instructed journalists in the country not to refer to itself as a government that took power in a coup.

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2021-02-15 00:04:00Z
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Australia suspends travel 'bubble' with New Zealand as Auckland goes into COVID-19 lockdown - CNA

WELLINGTON: Australia has suspended quarantine-free travel with neighbouring New Zealand after three new community cases of COVID-19 were detected in Auckland over the weekend.

New Zealand said on Sunday it was locking down its largest city after new cases emerged in the country, which has been credited with virtually eliminating the virus within its borders.

Australia’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, convened an urgent meeting late on Sunday and it was decided that all flights originating in New Zealand would be classified as "Red Zone" flights for an initial period of 72 hours from Monday.

"As a result of this, all people arriving on such flights originating within this three-day period will need to go into 14 days of supervised hotel quarantine," Australia's Department of Health said on its website.

The travel bubble was set up so that New Zealanders could get to Australia without needing to spend 14 days in a hotel, although quarantine was mandatory for people travelling in the other direction.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that genomic sequencing of the latest COVID-19 community cases showed they were the variant B1.1.7, the more transmissible variant first detected in the UK.

"We were absolutely right to make the decision to be extra cautious because we assumed it was going to be one of the more transmissible variants," Ardern said in a Facebook Live post on Monday.

The source of the new cases is still unknown as results do not link directly to any other positive cases detected in New Zealand to date.

Ardern raised restrictions in Auckland to Level 3 through Wednesday, shutting public venues and prohibiting gatherings outside homes, except for weddings and funerals of up to 10 people. Schools will stay open for children of essential workers but others were asked to stay home.

The COVID-19 alert for the rest of the country was raised to Level 2, with all gatherings limited to 100 people, including at restaurants and cafes.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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2021-02-14 21:49:54Z
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Myanmar troops fire on protesters in signs of feared crackdown - CNA

YANGON: Security forces in Myanmar opened fire to disperse protesters at a power plant on Sunday (Feb 14) and armoured vehicles rolled into major cities as the new army rulers faced a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations that saw hundreds of thousands on the streets.

As well as mass protests around the country, the military rulers were facing a strike by government workers, part of a civil disobedience movement against the Feb. 1 coup that deposed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Soldiers were deployed to power plants in the northern state of Kachin, leading to a confrontation with demonstrators, some of whom said they believed the army intended to cut off the electricity.

The security forces fired to disperse protesters outside one plant in Kachin's state capital Myitkyina, footage broadcast live on Facebook showed, although it was not clear if they were using rubber bullets or live fire.

Two journalists from The 74 Media, which was broadcasting live from the site of the confrontation, were arrested along with three other journalists, the news outlet said in a Facebook post.

As evening fell, armoured vehicles appeared in the commercial capital of Yangon, Myitkyina and Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, live footage broadcast online by local media showed, the first large-scale rollout of such vehicles across the country since the coup.

A man waves a flag next to an armoured vehicle in Yangon
A man waves a flag next to an armoured vehicle during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)

The government and army could not be reached for comment.

Shortly after midnight, residents in Myanmar reported an internet outage. All four telecommunications networks were inaccessible from about 1am.on Monday, they said. In the early days after the coup, the internet was cut across the country.

Western embassies - from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and 11 other nations - issued a statement late on Sunday calling on security forces to "refrain from violence against demonstrators and civilians, who are protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government".

The US embassy in Myanmar earlier urged American citizens to "shelter in place", citing reports of the military movements in Yangon. It also warned there was a possibility of a telecoms interruptions overnight between 1am and 9am.

"Internet shutdown in #Myanmar now in effect again across all major operators, reportedly until 09:00," Alex Warofka, product policy manager for human rights and freedom of expression at Facebook, said in a post on Twitter after the internet went down.

"Hope that everyone stays safe tonight amidst very concerning reports of military activity. #KeepItOn".

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

In the latest sign of disruption by workers, the Department of Civil Aviation said in a statement many staff had stopped coming to work since Feb 8, causing delays to international flights. It added that on Thursday four air traffic controllers had been detained, and had not been heard from since.

A pilot, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said hundreds of staff from the department were striking. Soldiers were surrounding the international airport in Yangon late on Sunday night, he said.

Protest against the military coup in Yangon
A man on a bike takes a picture of an armoured vehicle riding on a street during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)

Trains in parts of the country also stopped running after staff refused to go to work, local media reported, while the military deployed soldiers to power plants where they were confronted by angry crowds.

The military government has ordered civil servants to go back to work, threatening action. The army has been carrying out nightly mass arrests and on Saturday gave itself sweeping powers to detain people and search private property.

READ: UN rights envoy, US urge sanctions against Myanmar military

But hundreds of railway workers joined demonstrations in Yangon on Sunday, even as police went to their housing compound on the outskirts of the city to order them back to work. The police were forced to leave after angry crowds gathered, according to a live broadcast by Myanmar Now.

Richard Horsey, a Myanmar-based analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the work of many government departments had effectively ground to a halt.

"This has the potential to also affect vital functions - the military can replace engineers and doctors, but not power grid controllers and central bankers," he said.

PROTESTS ACROSS NATION

Hundreds of thousands of people protested across the nation on Sunday.

Engineering students marched through downtown Yangon, the biggest city, wearing white and carrying placards demanding the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since the coup and charged with importing walkie-talkies.

A fleet of highway buses rolled slowly through the city with horns blaring, part of the biggest street protests in more than a decade.

A convoy of motorbikes and cars drove through the capital Naypyitaw. In the southeastern coastal town of Dawei, a band played drums as crowds marched under the hot sun. In Waimaw, in Kachin state, crowds carried flags and sang revolutionary songs.

Protest against the military coup in Yangon
A Buddhist monk holding a sign stands next to an armoured vehicle during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)

Aung San Suu Kyi's detention is due to expire on Monday. Her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, could not be reached for comment on what was set to happen.

More than 384 people have been detained since the coup, the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said, in a wave of mostly nightly arrests.

Late on Saturday, the army reinstated a law requiring people to report overnight visitors to their homes, allowed security forces to detain suspects and search private property without court approval, and ordered the arrest of well-known backers of mass protests.

Fearing arrest raids as well as common crime, residents banded together late on Saturday to patrol streets in Yangon and the country's second-largest city Mandalay.

Worries about crime rose after the military government announced on Friday it would free 23,000 prisoners, saying the move was consistent with "establishing a new democratic state with peace, development and discipline".

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2021-02-14 18:56:15Z
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US embassy in Myanmar warns of troop movements, 'telecoms interruptions' - CNA

YANGON: The US embassy in Myanmar warned on Sunday night (Feb 14) of military troop movements and possible "telecommunications interruptions" in Yangon.

"There are indications of military movements in Yangon and the possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1am and 9am" on Monday morning local time, the US embassy tweeted on its official American Citizen Services account on Sunday night.

The warning came after armoured vehicles appeared in the commercial capital of Yangon, Myitkyina and Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, live footage broadcast online by local media showed, the first large-scale rollout of such vehicles across the country since the Feb 1 coup.

Security forces have stepped up arrests targeting a civil disobedience movement that has seen huge crowds throng streets in big urban centres and isolated frontier villages alike.

Police are now hunting seven people who have lent vocal support to the protests, including some of the country's most famous democracy activists.

"If you find any fugitives mentioned above or if you have information about them, report to the nearest police station," said a notice in state media on Sunday.

"Those who receive them will (face) action in accordance with the law."

Among the list of fugitives was Min Ko Naing, who spent more than a decade in prison for helping lead protests against an earlier dictatorship in 1988 while a university student.

"They are arresting the people at night and we have to be careful," he said in a video published to Facebook on Saturday, skirting a military ban on the platform, hours before his arrest warrant was issued.

"They could crack down forcefully and we will have to be prepared."

Myanmar
Anti-coup protesters hold posters with an image of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they gather outside the U.N. Information Office in Yangon, Myanmar on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: AP)

The 1988 protests vaulted Aung San Suu Kyi to the top of Myanmar's democracy movement, and the Nobel laureate spent years under house arrest as a prisoner of the generals.

She has not been seen in public since she was detained on Feb 1 alongside top aides.

Nearly 400 others have been arrested in the days since, including many of Aung San Suu Kyi's top political allies, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing suspended laws requiring warrants for home searches as part of several legal manoeuvres announced on Saturday.

The news did not deter thousands in Yangon from returning to key intersections around the city in a ninth straight day of street protests.

Some armoured vehicles were briefly spotted moving around the commercial hub towards evening. One was later parked inside the city zoo.

Myanmar armoured vehicle Sule pagoda
An armoured vehicle drives next to the Sule Pagoda, following days of mass protests against the military coup, in Yangon on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Thet Htoo)

But seven police officers broke ranks to join anti-coup protesters in the southern city of Dawei, mirroring local media reports of isolated defections from the force in recent days.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

In Yangon, many areas have begun forming neighbourhood watch brigades to monitor their communities overnight - in defiance of a military government curfew - and to prevent the arrests of residents joining the civil disobedience movement.

Some have also expressed fears that a mass prisoner amnesty this week was orchestrated to release inmates into the public to stir up trouble, while freeing up space in overcrowded jails for political detainees.

"We don't trust anyone at this time, especially those with uniforms," said Myo Ko Ko, a member of a street patrol in Yangon.

Near the city's central train station, residents rolled tree trunks onto a road to block police vehicles and escorted away officers who were attempting to return striking railway employees to work.

A day earlier, Buddhist monks gathered outside the city's US embassy and chanted the Metta Sutta, a prayer that urges protection from harm.

"We wanted them to know most citizens in Myanmar are against the military," said Vicittalankara, one of the participants.

'MEDIA ETHICS'

The country's new military leadership has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation.

APTOPIX Japan Myanmar Protest
Myanmar people living in Japan and supporters march though Shibuya pedestrian crossings during a protest on Feb 14, 2021, in Tokyo. (Photo: AP/Eugene Hoshiko)

An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday called for the new regime to release all "arbitrarily detained" people and for the military to hand power back to Aung San Suu Kyi's administration.

Solidarity protests have been staged in neighbouring Thailand, home to a large community of Myanmar migrant workers, as well as the United States, Japan and Australia.

READ: Myanmar nationals in Japan march in protest of military coup

READ: 3 men being investigated by police for allegedly protesting outside Myanmar embassy in Singapore

But traditional allies of the country's armed forces, including Russia and China, have dissociated themselves from what they have described as interference in Myanmar's "internal affairs".

The military government insists it took power lawfully and has instructed journalists in the country not to refer to itself as a government that took power in a coup.

"We inform ... journalists and news media organisations not to write to cause public unrest," said a notice sent by the information ministry to the country's foreign correspondents' club late on Saturday.

It also instructed reporters to follow "news media ethics" while reporting events in the country.

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2021-02-14 16:41:15Z
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Myanmar nationals in Japan march in protest of military coup - CNA

TOKYO: Thousands of people from Myanmar living in Japan marched in downtown Tokyo on Sunday (Feb 14) to protest the military coup back home, some holding photos of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and signs deploring the loss of human rights.

The gathering, which started in a park and trailed through busy streets, thronged by police, was the latest in a series of protests in a nation that more than 33,000 Myanmar nationals have made their home.

READ: Thousands protest Myanmar coup after night of fear, security patrols

“I don’t like the military government,” said Sum Lut Htu Ti, a restaurant worker who has lived in Japan for three decades.

Japan Myanmar Protest
Myanmar nationals living in Japan and supporters march though Shibuya pedestrian crossings during a protest on Feb 14, 2021, in Tokyo. (Photo: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan Myanmar Protest
Myanmar nationals protest in Tokyo against the military coup, on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: AP Images/Eugene Hoshiko)

She was marching in a large contingent of the Kachin ethnic group, wearing colorful traditional clothing.

“I want to fight with her,” she said of Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation's de facto leader who remains in detention following the Feb 1 coup.

READ: Myanmar protesters block arrests as UN demands Aung San Suu Kyi's release

The recent demonstrations in Tokyo appear to be growing, drawing more people each time. A few days ago, they gathered holding artificial candles and glow sticks in an evening vigil.

Sunday’s gathering also drew some Japanese protesters, including representatives from labor unions, who shouted slogans demanding freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi and promised solidarity.

They said they hoped the Japanese government and people would try to help Myanmar by rejecting and putting pressure on the junta, including with economic sanctions.

Japan Myanmar Protest
A protester carries a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi in Tokyo, on Feb 14, 2021. (Photo: AP Images)

Win Kyaw and his wife Ma Thida, both wearing the symbolic protest color of red, said they joined because they were worried about what they saw as the increasing violence in Myanmar.

Ma Thida, who held a framed portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi, pointed to the flowers in her own hair, noting she was wearing them proudly in her honor.

“Just like those in Myanmar, we outside the country feel the same way and want to send our message,” said Win Kyaw, who has lived in Japan for 33 years and works at a restaurant.

READ: Myanmar junta warns public not to hide fugitive protesters

READ: Myanmar police fire into air to disperse protest, four hurt by rubber bullets

He said people in Myanmar live in fear, unlike in Japan, which he said he likes because it is peaceful and has a democratic form of government.

“The longer I live in Japan, I hope more than ever for my country to become like Japan,” he said.

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2021-02-14 07:41:57Z
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Acquitted again by Senate, Trump still a powerful force in Republican politics - CNA

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  1. Acquitted again by Senate, Trump still a powerful force in Republican politics  CNA
  2. Trump acquitted in second impeachment trial, but outcomes favour Democrats  The Straits Times
  3. See what Mitch McConnell said after Trump's acquittal  CNN
  4. 57 senators got it right. But the Senate has more work to do.  Washington Post
  5. This was no triumph for Trump  CNN
  6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2021-02-14 07:12:07Z
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Sabtu, 13 Februari 2021

After not-guilty vote, McConnell says Trump 'morally responsible' for Capitol riot - CNA

WASHINGTON: US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Donald Trump "practically and morally responsible" for his supporters' deadly attack on the Capitol, only moments after voting to acquit the Republican former president on an impeachment charge of inciting the melee.

The top Senate Republican explained the unexpected turnabout at the end of a five-day impeachment trial, by declaring it unconstitutional to convict Trump of misconduct now that the former president has left office and become a private citizen.

READ: US Senate acquits Trump as Republicans save him in impeachment again

The Senate earlier in the week found that the trial was constitutional in a 56-44 vote.

"There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," said McConnell, who along with the rest of the Congress and former vice president Mike Pence fled the mob that descended on the Capitol on Jan 6.

Trump Impeachment
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, walks in the Capitol as the Senate convenes in a rare weekend session for final arguments in the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor.

The remarks came soon after the 100-seat chamber acquitted Trump on a single charge of inciting insurrection in a 57-43 vote that failed to reach the 67-vote threshold necessary for conviction. Seven Senate Republicans joined Democrats to vote for conviction.

The House of Representatives had impeached Trump on Jan 13, a week before he left office.

READ: Trump, after acquittal, says movement 'has only just begun'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced the senators who made Trump's acquittal possible as a "cowardly group of Republicans" and blamed McConnell for not allowing the House to deliver the impeachment charge to the Senate while Trump was still in the White House.

"Senator Mitch McConnell just went to the floor essentially to say that we made our case on the facts," said Representative Jamie Raskin, who had led the nine House Democrats who prosecuted Trump before the Senate.

McConnell was not the only Republican to castigate Trump for his behaviour after voting for acquittal.

"The question I must answer is not whether President Trump said and did things that were reckless and encouraged the mob. I believe that happened," Senator Rob Portman in a statement.

"My decision was based on my reading of the Constitution," the Ohio Republican added. "I believe the Framers understood that convicting a former president and disqualifying him or her from running again pulls people further apart."

Senator Chuck Grassley, the Senate's most senior Republican, described Trump's language in a fiery speech to supporters just before the Capitol assault as "extreme, aggressive and irresponsible".

But he said the Senate had no jurisdiction to hold a trial, agreed with Trump's legal team that the former president deserved more "due process" and said the prosecution had not made their case.

READ: Democrats argue Trump planted seeds of Capitol attack with false election claims

READ: Bar Trump from holding office again, impeachment managers urge Senate

In comments that echoed the prosecution's case, McConnell said Trump had orchestrated "an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories" and described the former president as "determined to either overturn the voters' decision or else torch our institutions on the way out".

McConnell suggested that Trump could still face criminal prosecution for his acts.

"President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen," McConnell said. "He didn't get away with anything. Yet." 

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2021-02-13 23:03:45Z
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