Myanmar activists hold candle-lit protests as EU, US make an effort to pressure junta

23 March, 2021
Myanmar activists hold candle-lit protests as EU, US make an effort to pressure junta
Myanmar protesters placed candle-lit vigils for the scores killed on demonstrations against military guideline, as Western countries imposed even more sanctions in individuals and groups associated with previous month's coup and an ensuing brutal crackdown about dissent.

Hundreds of people clutching candles held a good rally in the Ahlone district of the country's professional hub of Yangon on Mon (Mar 22) night, photos on social mass media showed.

At least 261 persons have already been killed by security forces wanting to quell weeks of pro-democracy protests in towns and cities in the united states, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.

Three persons were killed in Myanmar's second city, Mandalay in unrest on Monday, including a 15-year-old boy, witnesses and news reports said.

Security forces staged more raids in parts of Yangon on Mon night with photos fired and some people wounded, the Mizzima media service reported.

The junta has tried to justify the coup by saying a Nov 8 election won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party was fraudulent - an accusation the electoral commission rejected. Armed service leaders possess promised a fresh election but have not really set a time and have declared circumstances of emergency.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf marketing campaign to bring democratic civilian rule to Myanmar, has been held in detention while a range of accusations have been levelled at her, including bribery. Her lawyer says the charges are trumped up.

There have been also more examples of demonstrations overnight staged without persons in a bid to avoid becoming targeted by security forces trying to stamp out organised rallies.

Anti-coup protesters hold crimson balloons, calling for international intervention to aid them in downtown Yangon, Myanmar about Mar 22, 2021. (Picture: AP)

In Hsipaw in Shan Condition the names of lifeless protesters written on cards were laid out subsequent to candles with an indicator reading "We spirits don't want the junta", DVB TV Media reported.

Elsewhere, helium-filled balloons had been released in Monday bearing communications calling for international help. Street protesters were replaced by toy vehicles or dolls, some led by cardboard cutouts or manikins dressed up in outfits.

GERMANY SAYS REPRESSION "UNBEARABLE"

EUROPE imposed on Mon sanctions against individuals mixed up in coup and the repression of the demonstrators, marking the bloc's most significant response because the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on Feb 1.

The 11 targeted included General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military and head of the junta which has taken power.

The EU already comes with an arms embargo on Myanmar and has targeted some senior armed service officials since 2018.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters before the appointment that the army repression "has already reached an unbearable extent".

A guy with a head harm is carried by additional men on Mar 22, 2021 in Mandalay, Myanmar. (Photo: AP)

Stronger measures are anticipated soon as the bloc moves to take aim in the firms run by the army, EU diplomats said.

Washington had already sanctioned Min Aung Hlaing and the measures announced on Monday expanded the list.

The US action targeted senior policeman Than Hlaing and armed service officer Aung Soe, in addition to two Burmese Army divisions, the 33rd Light Infantry and 77th Light Infantry.

US Secretary of Express Anthony Blinken said users of the 33rd Division had fired live rounds right into a audience in Mandalay. Both devices were the main security forces' "planned systemic ways of ramp up the consumption of lethal push", he said.

There was no immediate response from the junta, which has shown no sign up to now to be swayed by international condemnation of its actions.

The junta spokesman is scheduled to hold a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan is traveling to Malaysia on Tuesday after stopping found in Brunei Darussalam on Mon and before going to Indonesia later this week.

Malaysia and Indonesia would like an urgent high-level getting together with of Southeast Asia's ASEAN regional grouping, which Myanmar is an associate, to go over the crisis.
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