Violence and protests mark anniversary of Myanmar army takeover

A nationwide strike in Myanmar has marked the one-year anniversary of the army’s seizure of power, as sporadic protests and violence raised further international concern over the struggle for power.

Photos and video on social media showed that a countrywide “silent strike” had emptied streets in Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon and other towns as people stayed home and businesses shut their doors in a show of opposition to army rule.

Clashes and violence were reported as well as the country faces an insurgency that some UN experts now characterise as a civil war.

Local media said an explosion killed at least two people and injured dozens at a pro-military rally in a town on the eastern border with Thailand. The cause of the blast was not clear.

The military’s takeover on February 1 last year ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party was about to begin a second term in office after winning a landslide victory in the previous year’s November election.

Widespread non-violent demonstrations followed the army’s takeover, but armed resistance arose after protests were put down with lethal force. About 1,500 civilians have been killed but the government has been unable to suppress the opposition.

The anniversary attracted international attention, especially from the US and Western nations critical of the military takeover.

President Joe Biden called for the military to reverse its actions, free Ms Suu Kyi and other detainees, and return Myanmar on a path to democracy.

The US on Monday imposed new sanctions on Myanmar officials, adding to those already applied to top military officers.

The measures freeze any assets the listed officials may have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. Britain and Canada announced similar measures.

A statement from the office of UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres highlighted “an intensification in violence, a deepening of the human rights and humanitarian crises and a rapid rise of poverty in Myanmar”, which it said required an urgent response.

Pro-democracy flash mob marches were held in several places before the start of the strike in the early morning hours, when clashes with police and soldiers are less likely.

Local media reported ongoing violence on Monday, with at least six bombings believed to have been carried out by resistance forces in Yangon.

Another bombing took place early on Tuesday at a police station in Myitkyina in northern Kachin state, where a seven year-old boy living nearby was killed by a stray bullet when police shot at a car fleeing the scene, reported The 74 Media, a local online news outlet.

Opposition militants carry out daily guerrilla action, while the military engages in larger assaults in rural areas, including air strikes, which are blamed for many civilian casualties.

Despite tight security in cities including Yangon, Mandalay and Sagaing, young protesters including Buddhist monks held spirited but peaceful protests at dawn, carrying banners and chanting anti-military slogans.

Many also held up three fingers, the resistance salute adopted from The Hunger Games movie that has also been used by pro-democracy demonstrators in neighbouring Thailand.

Authorities had threatened shopkeepers with arrest if they closed for the opposition strike, but those that were open on Tuesday appeared to have few if any customers.

Since last week, the government had issued official warnings in state-run media that anyone taking part in the strike could be prosecuted, and face imprisonment and the confiscation of their property.

Dozens of business owners who had announced they planned to be closed were arrested, according to reports in the state-run newspaper Myanma Alinn Daily.

The military-installed government initiated other measures to try to undercut the strike.

In Yangon and Mandalay, city administrators scheduled special events, including a cycling contest, to try to draw crowds. City workers in Yangon were told to attend during strike hours, according to leaked documents posted on social media.

Several pro-military demonstrations, widely believed to have been organised by the authorities, were also held.

In Tachileik, a border town in Shan state in eastern Myanmar, an explosion at a pro-government rally killed two people and injured at least 37 others, according to a reporter with the online local Tachileik News Agency.

The reporter said most of the marchers were ex-soldiers or villagers brought in for the demonstration.

No one has claimed the blast.