Police, mob of junta supporters attack anti-coup protesters in Myanmar

Police in Myanmar have attacked anti-coup protesters in the country’s two biggest cities, and a mob of junta supporters have attacked demonstrators with knives and clubs.

Police dispersed protesters in the main city of Yangon and the city of Mandalay on Friday, firing stun grenades and rubber bullets at them, and live fire into the air, according to witnesses.

At least one person was injured in the protests in Yangon, and a photograph posted online from Mandalay appeared to show a wounded protester in the back of an ambulance. It was not clear how that individual was hurt.

“One house let me in to hide,” journalist Thu Zar told Reuters from the scene of the rally in Yangon. “I can’t leave yet as the police are very near and firing into the air.”

Several people, including a Japanese journalist, were also detained.

Military chief General Min Aung Hlaing claimed that authorities were using minimal force, but at least three protesters have been shot dead in the country, so far.

According to a rights group, as of Wednesday, 728 people had been arrested, charged, or sentenced in relation to the protests.

Mob of junta supporters attack protesters

On Thursday, a group of about 1,000 supporters of the military regime turned up for a rally in Yangon, attacking rival anti-coup protesters and threatening news photographers and media workers.

Witnesses said a group of men, some of them armed with knives, were beating people, and others were firing catapults and hurling stones at protesters.

At least two people were stabbed, video footage showed.

In one incidence, several men, one wielding a large knife, attacked a man outside a city-center hotel.

Emergency workers rushed to help the bloodied man after his attackers moved off, but his condition was not known.

Two more people shot dead at Myanmar anti-coup protests

Protesters demand the restoration of the elected government and the release of Suu Kyi and other political leaders.

For about the past three weeks, the Southeast Asian country has been the scene of daily protests against the military, which grabbed power in a coup in early February. The army ousted the government of de facto leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi and arrested her and several political leaders.

Protesters demand the restoration of the elected government and the release of Suu Kyi and others.

Suu Kyi, who is being held under house arrest, is due to attend a court hearing on Monday.

Her lawyer said on Friday that he had not been granted access to his client ahead of the hearing.

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The junta has come under pressure by the international community to hand over power to civilians and release the officials.

The United States, Britain, and others have called for Suu Kyi’s release and the restoration of the civil government. They have imposed limited sanctions aimed at members of the military and its business links.

Britain said on Thursday it would impose sanctions on a further six military figures, adding to the 19 previously listed and including Min Aung Hlaing. The UK Foreign Office said that the Trade Ministry would work to ensure British businesses did not deal with Myanmar’s military-owned companies.

“Today’s package of measures sends a clear message to the military regime in Myanmar that those responsible for human rights violations will be held to account,” said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

He also called on authorities to “hand back control to a government elected by the people of Myanmar.”

The military has accused the Suu Kyi government of fraud in the November 2020 elections.

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