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Rabu, 03 Maret 2021

10 dead as Myanmar security forces fire at protesters - CNA

YANGON: At least 10 people were killed when Myanmar security forces fired on protesters on Wednesday (Mar 3) as multiple rallies across the country descended into violence.

Myanmar has been in uproar since Feb 1 when the military launched a coup and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending the nation's decade-long experiment with democracy and sparking daily mass protests.

The country has been in chaos since Feb 1 when the military launched a coup and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ending Myanmar's decade-long experiment with democracy and sparking daily mass protests.

International pressure is mounting - Western powers have repeatedly hit the generals with sanctions - and Britain has called for a United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday.

READ: Myanmar junta charges 6 journalists, including AP photographer

But the junta has ignored the global condemnation, responding to the uprising with escalating force, and security forces used lethal force on demonstrators again on Wednesday.

Protests at Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021 (4) — Police fire tear gas at protesters in Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021. (Photo: Naung Kham)

Protests at Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021 (5) — Police fire tear gas at protesters in Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021. (Photo: Naung Kham)

This comes after the junta hit half a dozen detained journalists, including an Associated Press photographer, with criminal charges that could see them spend up to three years in jail if convicted.

Three cities in central Myanmar saw bloody crackdowns on protesters by security forces on Wednesday, with Monywa in the Sagaing region registering the highest number of deaths with at least seven.

"What we can confirm is seven people have died," said an emergency doctor, who declined to provide his name.

Multiple medics also said they saw two other individuals being dragged away by security forces, though they could not get close enough to confirm if they had died.

In neighbouring Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, two demonstrators were killed, a doctor confirmed to AFP, adding that one of the victims was 19 years old and was shot in the head.

READ: Myanmar security forces fire live rounds at protesters

READ: Row over who represents coup-hit Myanmar at UN

A protest in the central city of Myingyan also turned violent, as security forces confronted protesters in hard hats crouching behind red home-made shields emblazoned with the three-finger salute - a symbol of resistance for the anti-coup movement.

"They fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and live rounds," a volunteer medic on the scene told AFP, adding that at least 10 people were injured.

Protests at Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021 — Protesters run away as police fire tear gas in Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021. (Photo: Naung Kham)

Protests at Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021 (1) — Protesters run away as police fire tear gas in Sanchaung, Yangon on Mar 3, 2021. (Photo: Naung Kham)

Several medics confirmed a young man was gunned down.

"Zin Ko Ko Zaw, a 20-year-old, was shot dead on the spot," a rescue team member told AFP, adding that his team had treated 17 people from the protest.

Two rescue team members in north-western Monywa said they saw security forces taking away two individuals.

"DEMOCRACY IS OUR CAUSE"

Local media in northern Kachin state also reported similar scenes of violence, publishing images of police bearing down on protesters in Hpakant.

"Some were hit with rubber bullets and some were suffocating because of tear gas," a doctor told AFP, saying his private hospital treated 10 injured.

Two critically wounded people - one struck in the chest, the other in the neck - had to be driven to the state capital's hospital about four hours away.

Parts of commercial hub Yangon were transformed, with protesters using makeshift tyres and barbed wire barricades to block major roads.

Near the famed Sule pagoda intersection, protesters pasted print-outs of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing's face on the ground - a tactic aimed at slowing down security forces who will avoid standing on the portraits.

In San Chaung township, which has been the site of intense clashes in recent days, tear gas and fire extinguisher clouds filled the streets as riot police confronted protesters.

READ: Southeast Asian nations urge halt to violence in Myanmar

There were also chaotic scenes at North Okkalapa - a civil society health clinic confirmed 19 injured people had arrived for medical treatment.

"Some got hit with rubber bullets, some fell down and some were beaten. We had to transfer one man to hospital for a operation because a rubber bullet hit his head. We do not have a surgeon here," an official told AFP.

Sunday was the bloodiest day since the military takeover, with the UN saying at least 18 protesters were killed across the country.

In Dawei on Wednesday, one of four gunshot victims from Sunday was cremated.

Mourners held floral wreaths and portraits of Lwin Lwin Oo, 33, as coffin bearers were flanked by hundreds chanting: "We are united, yes we are ... to get democracy is our cause".

Wednesday's violence came after the foreign ministers of Southeast Asian nations - including Myanmar's junta representative Wunna Maung Lwin - discussed the crisis at a virtual meeting.

After the talks Indonesia's Retno Marsudi expressed frustration over the junta's lack of cooperation.

Singapore - which is Myanmar's largest investor - condemned the authorities' use of lethal force, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong telling the BBC that it was "unacceptable".

READ: ASEAN must reiterate guiding principles when it comes to situation in Myanmar: Vivian Balakrishnan

READ: Myanmar military's use of lethal force 'disastrous', but sense can still prevail: PM Lee

JOURNALISTS CHARGED

AP photographer Thein Zaw, 32, was arrested on Saturday as he covered a demonstration in Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon, his lawyer told AFP on Wednesday.

Thein Zw and five other Myanmar journalists had been charged under a law against "causing fear, spreading false news or agitating directly or indirectly a government employee", according to the lawyer, Tin Zar Oo.

The junta amended the law last month, to increase the maximum sentence from two years to three years in jail.

"Ko Thein Zaw was simply reporting in line with press freedom law - he wasn't protesting, he was just doing his work, the lawyer, Tin Zar Oo, said, adding that all six were being held at Insein prison in Yangon.

READ: Myanmar police free Japanese journalist after brief detention: Media

READ: Myanmar journalist arrested after overnight attack: Employer

The other five journalists are from Myanmar Now, Myanmar Photo Agency, 7Day News, Zee Kwet Online news and a freelancer, according to AP.

AP's vice-president of international news Ian Philips called for Thein Zaw's immediate release.

"Independent journalists must be allowed to freely and safely report the news without fear of retribution," he said.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group, more than 1,200 people have been arrested since the coup, with about 900 still behind bars or facing charges.

But the real number is likely far higher - state-run media reported that on Sunday alone more than 1,300 people were arrested.

AAPP says that 34 journalists are among those detained, with 15 released so far.

The most recent confirmed arrest came on Monday, when a Myanmar journalist with broadcasting service Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) live-streamed a late-night raid on his home.

The footage - posted on DVB's Facebook page - appeared to show loud bangs outside his apartment building as he pleaded with authorities not to shoot.

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2021-03-03 12:33:45Z
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'How will they survive': Myanmar coup cuts lifeline for migrants' families - CNA

BANGKOK: Since arriving in Thailand a few years ago, Myanmar migrant worker Own Mar Shwe had been sending money home every month for her family to buy food and medicine.

That came to an abrupt halt last month.

Like millions of Myanmar migrants who work abroad and send their earnings back home to dependants, the Feb 1 coup has cut a lifeline for her family with bank and remittance services heavily disrupted.

"I'm concerned about how (my family) will get through each day," Own Mar Shwe, 41, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Samut Sakhon, a Thai seafood hub south of the capital Bangkok.

She usually sends 6,000 baht (US$200) a month from working at a shrimp market, paying a broker who uses Wave Money - a digital payment service - to transfer the money to convenience stores in Myanmar where her relatives pick up the payments.

READ: 7 dead as Myanmar security forces fire at protesters

She has not been able to do so since the military ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi a month ago, imposing internet curbs and prompting mass street protests as well as workers' strikes across Myanmar.

"I don't know what to do," said the mother-of-three, expressing worries for her 76-year-old mother who is sick and relies on her income to buy medicine.

More than 4 million Myanmar migrants - from a population of about 54 million - work overseas in industries ranging from manufacturing, agriculture to domestic work, United Nations data shows. Their top two destinations are Thailand and Malaysia.

Many of them are the breadwinners for their families, sending back remittances that amounted to US$2.4 billion in 2019, or more than 3 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, World Bank figures show.

READ: Myanmar junta charges 6 journalists, including AP photographer

DISRUPTIONS

Hundreds of thousands of people have rallied across Myanmar since the coup, with at least 31 people killed.

Many businesses have been closing to show support for the anti-coup movement or allowing their employees to attend protests during work hours.

Bank services are irregular, with some branches closed, others reducing operations and limiting withdrawals.

Myanmar coup Yangon protests Feb 25 (9) — Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar on Feb 25, 2021. (Photo: Naung Kham)

The disruptions have led to a number of banks and financial firms abroad temporarily suspending their money transfer services to Myanmar or advising clients to put the transfer plan on hold, citing potential delays.

A check with a branch of Thailand's Kasikornbank in Bangkok, as well as the Western Union and International Money Transfer outlets in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, confirmed this. Another Thai bank, Siam Commercial Bank, said its transfer service is still up and running.

Western Union, the world's largest money transfer firm, has said it "cannot provide a definitive timeframe" on when its transfer service to Myanmar might resume, according to a post on its website on Feb 19.

"Remittances are hugely important to keep families going in countries of origin," said Nicola Piper, a professor of international migration now at the Queen Mary University of London, who studies Asia labour migration.

"The current situation, ie the combined COVID-19 and political crisis, would most likely have a huge impact on the livelihoods of families left behind."

READ: Myanmar security forces fire live rounds at protesters

READ: Row over who represents coup-hit Myanmar at UN

PRESSURE

Even before the current political turmoil, COVID-19 has had an "acute effect" on the livelihoods of Myanmar's migrants and their families, with millions suffering job losses and reduced income, according to a UN report last year.

Benjamin Harkins, a UN official in Myanmar, said the popularity of using informal channels to send money among Myanmar migrants could provide some cushioning to the temporary closure of formal financial institutions.

Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar Feb 22 (2) — Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar on Feb 22, 2021. (Photos: Naung Kham)

Such channels are done through a trust-based money transfer network, known as hundi or hawala, run by unlicensed financial brokers, and could push Myanmar's remittances closer to US$10 billion if these informal flows are included, he added.

Harkins said remittances would become even more important for livelihoods after the coup as the prospects of foreign firms reconsidering their investments in Myanmar is likely to have a "negative impact" on the local job market.

"Moreover, regular channels for labour migration to key destination countries such as Thailand and Malaysia remain closed due to COVID-19," said Harkins, the senior programme manager at the UN's Livelihoods and Food Security Fund in Yangon.

"That could create a situation where the need for remittances are greater than migrant workers are able to fulfil, contributing to an increase in poverty for the affected households and intense pressure on migrants to provide for their families."

READ: Southeast Asian nations urge halt to violence in Myanmar

For Ko Nai Ling, who arrived in Malaysia in 2013 from his village in Myanmar to find a better paying job to support his two families from separate marriages, all he hopes is that he can send money again soon.

He has barely been able to communicate with his family since the coup as access to Facebook, used by half of Myanmar's population, remains restricted.

"I am very worried because I am the only person providing for them," said Ko Nai Ling, 33, who used to send home up to RM1,200 (US$300) a month from working at a car wash. If I can't send money, I don't know how they will survive."

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2021-03-03 12:00:52Z
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7 dead as Myanmar security forces fire at protesters - CNA

YANGON: At least seven people were killed as Myanmar security forces fired on protesters on Wednesday (Mar 3), medics say.

This comes after the junta hit half a dozen detained journalists, including an Associated Press photographer, with criminal charges.

International pressure is mounting - Western powers have repeatedly hit the generals with sanctions - and Britain has called for a United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday.

READ: Myanmar junta charges 6 journalists, including AP photographer

But the junta has ignored the global condemnation, responding to the uprising with escalating force, and security forces used lethal force on demonstrators again on Wednesday.

Four people were shot dead during a protest in a city in central Myanmar, according to medics who spoke to AFP by phone.

Another two demonstrators died about two hours' drive away in Mandalay, the nation's second biggest city, medics told AFP.

One of the victims in Mandalay was shot in the head and the other in the chest, according to a doctor, who asked not to be named.

READ: Myanmar security forces fire live rounds at protesters

READ: Row over who represents coup-hit Myanmar at UN

"They fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and live rounds," a volunteer medic on the scene told AFP, adding that at least 10 people were injured.

Thet Thet Swe, from Myingyan rescue clinic, confirmed a young man was shot in the head and died.

"Zin Ko Ko Zaw, a 20-year-old was shot dead on the spot and my team treated 17 injured people," a second rescue team member told AFP.

Two rescue team members in north-western Monywa said they saw security forces taking away two individuals.

"DEMOCRACY IS OUR CAUSE"

Demonstrations also continued across Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, on Wednesday, with protesters using makeshift tyre and barbed wire barricades to block major roads and slow the police.

In downtown Pansodan Road, near the famed Sule pagoda intersection, protesters pasted print-outs of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing's face on the ground - a tactic aimed at slowing down security forces who will avoid standing on the portraits.