(Reuters) – Protesters demonstrated across Myanmar again today to denounce the Feb. 1 military coup and arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and police forcefully dispersed crowds, using water cannon in the capital and catapults in a northern town.
The daily protests and strikes that have paralysed many government offices show no sign of easing even though the junta has promised a new election and appealed for civil servants to return to work, threatening action if they do not.
“I don’t want to wake up in a dictatorship. We don’t want to live the rest of our lives in fear,” said Ko Soe Min, who was out in the main city of Yangon where tens of thousands took to the streets a day after some of the biggest protests yet.
Big crowds returned to Yangon’s central Sule Pagoda while many young people also massed at another favourite protest site, at an intersection near the main university campus, spilling into the streets as police tried to move them on.
The marches have been more peaceful than the bloodily suppressed demonstrations seen during an earlier half century of army rule, but they and the civil disobedience movement have had a crippling effect on much official business.
Many motorists in Yangon drove at a snail’s pace in a show of opposition to the coup, a day after many pretended to be broken down to block police and army vehicles.
In the second-biggest city, Mandalay, protesters rallied to demand the release of two officials arrested in the coup. Police fired water cannon in the capital, Naypyitaw, to scatter a crowd approaching police lines.
The northern town of Myitkyina was tense after police and soldiers used catapults to break up a protest, a resident said. Pictures on social media showed soldiers and rows of police trucks.
“They’re not acting in line with the constitution nor rule of law. They are acting like terrorists,” said activist Sut Seng Htoi. Police were not available for comment.
In the old capital of Bagan, people with banners and flags marched in colourful processions against a backdrop of ancient temples. Some protesters stopped at a temple to put a curse on dictators, a witness said.
TRYING TO END CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Putting an end to the civil disobedience campaign appears to be the military government’s priority.
Late on Wednesday, the junta issued arrest warrants against six celebrities, including film directors, actors and a singer, under an anti-incitement law, for encouraging civil servants to join the protest.
The charges can carry a two-year prison sentence.
“It’s amazing to see the unity of our people. People’s power must return to the people,” actor Lu Min, who was on the junta’s ‘wanted list’, posted on his Facebook page.
The military says a majority of people back its actions.
The takeover and arrests have drawn strong Western criticism with the United States and Britain among countries that have announced or threatened sanctions.
China has taken a softer line while neighbours Singapore and Indonesia have proposed regional dialogue. Singapore also urged that violence not be used against civilians.
“In particular, live rounds should not be fired on unarmed civilians under any circumstances,” Singapore’s foreign ministry cited its minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, as saying.
Police have fired rubber bullets several times.
One protester was shot in the head in Naypyitaw last week and is being kept on life support, but doctors say she is not expected to survive.
The army says that one policeman died of injuries sustained in a protest.
The army said on its Facebook page forces were providing security across the country to “make sure people have tranquillity and sound sleep”.
Halting Myanmar’s tentative transition towards democracy, the army took power after the electoral commission rejected its accusations of fraud in a Nov. 8 election won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
Opponents of the coup are deeply sceptical of junta promises to hand over power after a new election, for which no date has yet been set.
Suu Kyi, detained since the coup, faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as charges of illegally importing six walkie talkie radios. Her next court appearance has been set for March 1.
Suu Kyi, 75, spent nearly 15 years under house arrest for her efforts to bring democracy and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her struggle.
The number of people known to have been detained since the coup had reached 495 by Wednesday, of whom 460 were still being held, Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.