Myanmar Coup: Myanmar military widens coup dragnet as scores protest at university | World News – Times of India

YANGON: Several hundred lecturers and college students protested at a Myanmar university Friday as the military widened a dragnet towards officers ousted in a coup that has drawn international condemnation and the risk of new sanctions.
The rally came about after the arrest Win Htein, a key aide to de facto chief Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who was detained together with president Win Myint early Monday.
The putsch ended the nation’s 10-12 months dalliance with democracy that adopted many years of oppressive junta rule, and sparked outrage and calls by US President Joe Biden for the generals to relinquish energy.
On Friday, round 200 lecturers and college students at Yangon’s Dagon University staged a rally the place they displayed a 3-finger salute borrowed from Thailand’s democracy actions, and sang a preferred revolution track.
“As a citizen, I cannot accept this military coup at all,” lecturer Win Win Maw informed AFP. “We have to resist this dictatorship.”
Marching across the university’s compound, college students chanted “Long live Mother Suu” and carried crimson flags, the color of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) celebration.
“We will not let our generation suffer under this kind of military dictatorship,” stated Min Sithu, a scholar.
Dozens of workers from a number of authorities ministries in Naypyidaw additionally posed for group images sporting crimson ribbons and flashing the democracy image.
Hours earlier than Friday’s university protest, Win Htein was arrested at his daughter’s home, stated Kyi Toe, an NLD press officer.
The 79-12 months-outdated NLD stalwart, thought-about Suu Kyi’s proper-hand man, has spent lengthy stretches in detention for campaigning towards military rule.
Ahead of his arrest, Win Htein informed native media the military putsch was “not wise”, and referred to as on individuals within the nation to “oppose as much as they can”.
Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since Monday.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Yangon-based group that displays political arrests in Myanmar, greater than 130 officers and lawmakers have been detained in relation to the coup.
Telecom suppliers within the nation have been ordered to chop entry to Facebook, the principle means of communication and accessing the web for thousands and thousands of individuals in Myanmar.
With Facebook stifled, extra Myanmar individuals have moved to Twitter in current days or began utilizing VPN companies to bypass the blockade.
A so-referred to as Civil Disobedience Movement has gathered steam on-line, calling on the general public to voice opposition each evening by banging pots and clanging cymbals to point out their anger.
“I feel our hope is broken by the military after they seized power,” stated meals vendor Thazin Oo, whose cell phone case has a photograph of Suu Kyi.
So far, at least 14 activists and outstanding professional-democracy figures have been arrested, in line with AAPP.
The nephew of filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi — who has beforehand been jailed for criticising the military — confirmed Friday his outspoken uncle had been picked up on the morning of the coup.
“I think they arrested all dissidents who could share the right information to the public,” stated Kaung Satt Naing.
The putsch has drawn condemnation globally.
On Thursday, President Biden reiterated his name for the generals to reverse course.
“The Burmese military should relinquish power they have seized, release the advocates and activists and officials they have detained, lift the restrictions in telecommunications, and refrain from violence,” Biden stated.
He spoke hours after his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated the White House was “looking at specific targeted sanctions both on individuals and on entities controlled by the military that enrich the military”.
He didn’t give additional particulars.
The United Nations Security Council took a softer tack, voicing “deep concern” — a step down from a draft Tuesday that had condemned the coup.
Diplomats stated veto-wielding China and Russia, Myanmar’s primary supporters at the UN, had requested for extra time Tuesday to finesse the council’s response.
There have been calls on multinational corporations working with Myanmar’s military-linked companies to chop ties as a strategy to strain the generals.
Japanese beer large Kirin stated Friday it was terminating its three way partnership with a military-owned conglomerate. Kirin has been below scrutiny for a while over its ties to Myanmar’s military-owned breweries.