Defying deadly crackdown, crowds again protest military coup in Myanmar

Police in Myanmar’s biggest city fired tear gas March 1 at defiant crowds who returned to the streets to protest the Feb. 1 coup, despite reports security forces had killed at least 18 people a day earlier. The protesters in Yangon were chased as they tried to gather at their usual meeting spot at the Hledan Center intersection. The military coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar after five decades of military rule. It came on the same day a newly elected Parliament was supposed to take office. Ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party would have led that government, but instead she was detained along with other senior officials. Since the takeover, protests in cities across the country have been growing — and the junta’s response has become increasingly violent. On Feb. 26, Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, appealed for the international community to take the “strongest possible action” to immediately restore democracy, in a dramatic speech to the U.N. General Assembly. He was fired the next day. (AP) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.