Myanmar: Escalation of military violence against the protest movement

Last Saturday is a day of celebration for Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hling. On “Armed Forces Day” the army celebrates itself every year, at a military parade in the capital, Naypyidaw, with its tanks and missiles, and soldiers marching in formation. The actor out Russia, China, IfAnd the PakistanAnd the BangladeshAnd the ThailandAnd the Vietnam And the Laos Are present and thus legitimize the coup regime.

Before going to the banquet in the evening in white uniform, Min Aung Hlaing gives a speech – which is brazen enough for the following sentence: “The army is reaching out to the entire nation to protect democracy.”

The next day, photos were posted on social media showing a burning pile of burning tires. There is something like a humerus and a human skull. The remains of a four-man man from Mandalay were allegedly neglected enough to exit when the soldiers marched into the Maine Taal-e Ken neighborhood that night. They are said to have shot the man in the hip and then burned him alive.

SPIEGEL was unable to independently verify the condition, but in the background men could be seen in traditional long, wrapped skirts, indicating that the photos had already come out. Myanmar Come.

At least 114 dead across the country – in one day

As the generals demonstrated a commitment to democracy in the fortified capital, their men unleashed an orgy of violence across the country against those who were already trying to defend the sovereignty of the people.

She shot 27 people in the largest city alone Yangon. They killed their fellow citizens at Kawthaung on the southern border with Thailand, at Pathein in the Irrawaddy Delta, in the mining town of Hpakant in the far north. The fatal bullets hit a 13-year-old girl in her family’s home in Meiktila and a five-year-old boy in Mandalay. Shots were also fired at the American center in Yangon, which is run by the US embassy. A fighter jet bombed a rebel base in the Karen border area.

In one list, the death toll from research medium “Myanmar Now” reached 114 deaths in 44 localities across the country on Saturday. About a quarter of Myanmar’s population who had been killed by the army and police since the February 1 coup died that day. The army watched last night’s threat on state TV that protesters risked being shot in the head or back.

It is possible that the Myanmar conflict will enter a new phase. In the first four weeks after the coup, the security forces – by their standards – still allowed a relatively large amount of protest. From the 28th day onwards, archers executed individual protesters practically every day, often with bullets to the head. After another four weeks, the last trace elements of anxiety and mankind have completely evaporated.

The military want to bring peace to the cemetery

If one takes the events of Saturday as an indication, the military leaders have apparently abandoned the idea of ​​forming a functional government halfway. It is clear that their only concern is to bring peace to the cemetery by terrorizing every citizen. In light of this, all the demonstrators that the coup plotters call “terrorists” are right.

Former US ambassador to Myanmar, Scott Marciel, tweeted after Bloody Saturday, Myanmar’s army is “transcending all causes”; He sees no value in continuing the dialogue “until they indicate that they are looking for a way out.”

US Secretary of State and Defense Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin expressed their horror, and the General Staff of many Western countries, including GermanyAnd condemned the actions of the Myanmar army and called for restraint. The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, described the actions of the junta as “mass killing”.

The West has little help to offer to Myanmar

These are the correct words, but you will most likely stay with the words. By participating in the military parade, Russia and China have just made clear to the generals that they do not intend to break away from them; As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, they must prevent decisive actions against the coup government. Other than moral discontent and unilateral economic sanctions, which have proven ineffective in the past, the West has little to offer the people of Myanmar.

According to information from SPIEGEL, some democratic politicians and activists have already fled to the Myanmar border areas controlled by rebel ethnic groups. They are much safer there than they are in the heart, but far from population centers; Geographical surroundings and political power are identical. After the uprising of 1988, student leaders saved themselves in the mountains and forests, and since then they have practically no role in the fate of Myanmar.

Originally, “Armed Forces Day” had a different name, “Resistance Day.” He remembers how Myanmar’s associations rose up against the Japanese at the end of World War II – the brutal occupiers who subjugated the country regardless of the human cost. Given how the means of force are distributed, similar resistance appears to be an almost impossible task today.