LIVE Timeline: Myanmar's 2021 Democratic Uprising Against the Military Coup

 

February 12-The seventh day of nationwide protests against military rule are starting again all over Myanmar despite raids which had taken place throughout the country the night before which targeted protest organisers and election officials.

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Civil servants from the revenue department joined protests on Friday morning in Yangon. 

 

 

 

 

 

February 11-The fifth day of protests on Wednesday passed without any major incidents. The nationwide uprising against last week’s military takeover continued to gather steam, with more civil servants joining the civil disobedience movement and monks showing their support. The most notable development was the defection of a growing number of police, including 40 who joined protesters in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state.

5:00 PM: More than 70 protesters who were arrested in Mandalay on Tuesday were released yesterday, the Patheingyi township court has told our reporter.  At least 200 of protesters, including a couple dozen people of Chinese heritage, are gathered in front of the Chinese consular office around Nguwah street on 73rd street in Mandalay. They demanding that China ends its support for the military regime. 
 

4:40 PM: Protest hotspots in Yangon such as Sule Pagoda, Myaynigone and Hledan are much less crowded than in previous days. These areas were busy in the morning but people dispersed more quickly than usual. There are still tens of thousands in the downtown area, our reporters estimate, but they are scattered around and walking in different directions. 

Myanmar people with Chinese heritage, medical students and others are protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy on Ahlone road for a second day. Many are convinced China is helping the regime in its efforts to impose strict controls on the internet after reports emerged of Chinese IT technicians arriving in Myanmar. About a dozen police officers are standing guard in front of the embassy, with protesters on the other side of the road.

1:20: The Mandalay Poets’ Union joined protests against the military dictatorship in Mandalay, marching in a column around the city this morning. 

1:38: Tens of thousands of government servants and other protesters are now gathering at Thabyay Gone roundabout in Naypyitaw, where a major police crackdown happened just a couple of days ago and a 20-year-old woman was shot in the head. She is now on life support. 

1:44: Many thousands of people have been gathering today in Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady region. The protest there is made up of health workers and staff from the electricity, forestry, and other departments, as well as monks. Marches started at 8am and others are taking place in other townships in Ayeyarwady region. 

2:38: Small groups of protesters are now gathering around the Manaw Yaman park in Mandalay. At the corner of 38th street and 78th street, police are blocking the way and standing by with a water cannon truck. Over a thousand people are protesting there by sitting on the road. Marches are moving here and there on 84th and 35th streets. In the streets around Mahar Myat Muni Buddhist Temple, police and some soldiers are holding guns and truncheons though there are no protesters around that area. Our reporter suggested that they are sending a signal for monks to avoid joining the protests, since there are some monasteries on those streets.

February 10

15:27-The area around Yangon’s City Hall and Sule Pagoda is less crowded than on previous days as columns of protesters go their separate ways around different areas of the city. However, our reporters estimate that there are still hundreds of thousands of protesters around the area. Just recently, a column of student unions from the Yangon University and Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University – along with other marchers – arrived in Sule after marching from Hledan. 

There are also young dancers now in Sule, who came along with the students’ column and are dancing to revolutionary songs made famous during previous protests against the dictatorship. The students and young dancers said they are revolting against the “junta of Min Aung Hlaing''.

At the Thaketa roundabout in Thaketa township, a group of people are holding a vigil for the young woman from Naypyitaw who was shot in the head with a live bullet by the police yesterday, and is now in an intensive care unit (ICU). A column of over 60 trishaws from Thaketa has just arrived at Sule, while a column of Covid-19 volunteers arrived there a couple of hours ago from Thingangyun, Thuwanna, and Thaketa townships. There are also a few singers and artists around the pagoda, including Lynn Lynn, who has volunteered as a security guard for Aung San Suu Kyi.

15:00--Hundreds of thousands of protesters have already converged in the downtown areas of Yangon. 


 

14::46: Police are blocking Mandalay’s 78th street, a main road, at the corner with 38th street, one of the main spots where protesters have been gathering in recent days. The junction is also where a major police crackdown happened yesterday. At the moment, there are about 3,000 demonstrators there sitting on the road, unable to continue marching. Hindu people are protesting on 35th street,  while city municipal employees, students, and members of the Mandalay Car Brokers’ Association are protesting on Manawhari road. According to our reporter, there has been no further police crackdown yet in Mandalay. Some sources have said 70 protesters who were arrested yesterday were released today, though police and the court have yet to confirm that.

11:30-Tens of thousands protersters from all over Yangon are streaming into the city's downtown areas. 

11:20 Dozens of police men and women joined the anti-coup protests in Kayah State, holding posters that read "We don't want the dictatorship" and "We stand with the people".

11:00 "We don't want the dictatorship," the police shouted, holding up three fingers as a sign of civil disobedience movement.

10:20 Buddhist monks are joining anti-coup protests in major cities of Mandalay and Yangon this morning on Wednesday

10:20 Buddhist monks from the famous Mahagandayone monastery in Mandalay are joining the protests against last week's military coup.

10:00- Protesters burn an effigy of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing at a protest site near Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, as fury over last week's overthrow of Myanmar's newly elected government continues to grow.

9:40 A group of Burmese people of Chinese descent are protesting in front of the Chinese embassy in Yangon, calling on Beijing to respect the outcome of last year's elections, which Aung San Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide.

9:30- Soldiers have raided a clinic in the Thabyay Kone area of Naypyitaw, where a group of doctors have been organizing protests as part of the nationwide civil disobedience movement.

9:00 Despite the crackdowns yesterday, thousands of protesters converge again at Yangon's Hledan Junction.

8:00-Uniformed civil servants in Naypyidaw chant “Don’t go to the office! Let’s liberate ourselves!” as they join the nationwide civil disobedience movement.

 

Februray 9

18:00- The protesters in Naypyidaw and Mandalay have dispersed. They vow to show up again tomorrow to protest against the military coup. 

17:15-A motorcade carrying pro-army supporters passed by a crowd of anti-coup protesters chanting "Mother Suu".

16:45 -Hundreds of protesters chanting for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees have assembled near the Thabyaykone roundabout in Naypyidaw.

16:30-Plain-clothes thugs are reportedly coming from North Okkalapa township to Hledan Junction where anti-coup protests continues.

16:00-Anti-military coup protests continue in Naypyidaw, Yangon and Mandalay. The first use of rubber bullets in Mandalay. Two protesters on motorbikes were shot by the police. One of the two protester shot in the neck.

14:00--Around 100 arrested in Mandalay where the police used tear gas and water cannons to crackdown on protesters. A similar crackdown has just started at the corner of 86 & 35 streets in Mandalay. 

13:00- Police fired around 50 rounds of rubber bullets and used water cannons to crackdown on protesters in Naypyidaw. At least five people sustained bullet wounds during the crackdown in Naypyidaw this afternoon. A 19-year old female medic sustained a critical head injury and a journalist reporting for local news outlet Mizzima was shot twice in back. 

 

12:30-Police officers join the nationwide uprising against the military coup

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Lt.Khun Aung Ko Ko who joined the protests in Naypyidaw looked at the riot police blocking a road. (Photo: Nyan Hlaing Lin/Myanmar Now) 

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Four policemen in the town of Magwe also joined the anti-coup protests on Tuesday. 

12:00-Protests against the coup have spread far and wide all over Myanmar. Thousands of people out on the streets in Myeik, in southern Myanmar's Tanintharyi Region.
 

11:45-Many more protesters are arriving at Thabyaykon roundabout which marks the center of administrative capital Naypyidaw. 

11:37-Police has blockaded a major road near the University of Yangon. In response, the young protesters are staging a sit-in. 

11:33-Protests against the military coup are taking place all over Myanmar. Here are the scenes in Myitkyina, the capital city of Kachin State in the north of the country.

11:00-Protesters collapsed on the road after police use water cannon on crowd demonstrating 

 

10:40- The protesters are arriving at the downtown areas of Yangon in the backdrop of historic Sule Pagoda. 

10:30- Protester injured after police use water cannon on crowd demonstrating in Naypyidaw. 

 

10:00-Protests are taking place in the second largest city of Mandalay. 

 

9:00- The police have blocked protesters marching near the headquarters of military-backed USDP in Naypyidaw.
 

8:00 am- Employees from the Railway Department in Insein Township have started taking to the streets.

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

Announcement came as court postponed the 82-year-old’s third hearing, meaning his request for bail on health grounds was not considered 

Published on Mar 19, 2021
Win Htein arrives for the opening ceremony of the second session of the Union Peace Conference in 2017 (EPA-EFE)

Detained National League for Democracy party stalwart Win Htein is to be tried by a special tribunal of two judges following an order from the military-controlled Supreme Court, his lawyer said on Friday. 

“It was just one judge before, and now there’s two,” Min Min Soe told Myanmar Now. 

“District judge Ye Lwin will serve as chair, and deputy district judge Soe Naing will be a member of the tribunal,” she added.

Win Htein faces up to a 20-year prison sentence for sedition under section 124a of the Penal Code.

His third hearing, scheduled for Friday, was postponed, with the court citing the internet shutdown as the reason because it made video conferencing impossible, Min Min Soe said.

“The arguments will be presented at the next hearing, we applied for bail but since they’re setting up a tribunal for the lawsuit, that will be discussed at the next hearing as well,” she said.

At the second hearing on March 5, Win Htein requested an independent judgement, a meeting with his lawyer, and bail due to his health issues, but the court said those requests would be heard on March 19.

Win Htein, 82, uses a wheelchair and suffers from breathing problems that means he often requires an oxygen tank. He also suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, hypothyroidism and benign prostatic hyperplasia. 

Min Min Soe was allowed a brief call with her client on Friday to tell him that his hearing had been postponed until April 2.

Aye Lu, the chair of the Ottara district administration council in Naypyitaw, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit against Win Htein. Ottara district is where the NLD’s temporary headquarters are located. 

Aye Lu filed the charge on February 4 and Win Htein was arrested that evening at his home in Yangon. He has been kept in the Naypyitaw detention center and denied visits from his lawyers. 

He was detained after giving media interviews in the wake of the February 1 coup in which he said military chief Min Aung Hlaing had acted on personal ambition when seizing power. 

On Wednesday the military council announced that it was investigating Aung San Suu Kyi for corruption, on top of other charges announced since her arrest.

Many other NLD leaders, party members and MPs have been arrested or are the subject of warrants.

Kyi Toe, a senior figure in the NLD, was arrested on Thursday night in Hledan, Yangon.

 

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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The country’s military leaders have acted with impunity for decades, but now there is a mechanism to bring them to justice

Published on Mar 19, 2021
Nationwide protests against the coup have been responded with murders, torture and mass arrests by the military regime. (Myanmar Now)

On March 8, U Ko Ko Lay, a 62-year-old teacher, bled to death on a street in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina. He had been shot in the head while protesting the military coup of February 1. That same night, U Zaw Myat Lynn, an official from the National League for Democracy, was taken from his home in Shwepyithar on the outskirts of Yangon and tortured to death. The list keeps growing.

In the more than six weeks since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power, images of soldiers and police officers shooting, beating, and arresting protesters have flooded social media and Myanmar and international news outlets. So far, the regime’s forces have killed well over 200 people (more than half of them in the past week) and seriously injured many more. The junta has also arrested nearly 2,200 people, some of whom, like U Zaw Myat Lynn, have died in custody.

Each day, Myanmar human rights organizations update lists with names, dates, locations, and causes of death. Around 600 police and a handful of soldiers have decided they do not want to be involved in such actions. They have left their posts and even joined the anti-coup movement.

Many soldiers, police officers, and commanding officers are acting with impunity now. But they can face prosecution, not only in Myanmar’s courts but also internationally. Like any country, Myanmar is subject to international law. Because of its history of atrocities, most recently against the Rohingya people, Myanmar is also already subject to special international legal proceedings that apply to the current situation.

The most relevant is the United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). The IIMM was created in 2018 after the Myanmar military’s brutal campaign against the Rohingya people, but it applies to the whole country. Its mission is to investigate “international crimes” from 2011 to the present.

International crimes are generally defined as “widespread and systematic” in nature, involving many victims and locations. These include crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.

In keeping with its mandate, the IIMM is collecting information on the current situation. In a statement released on February 11 (available in Myanmar here), it highlighted the “use of lethal force against peaceful protesters and the detention of political leaders, members of civil society and protesters.”

More recently, on March 17, the IIMM also called on recipients of illegal orders to share this evidence so that those ultimately responsible for these crimes can be held accountable.

"The persons most responsible for the most serious international crimes are usually those in high leadership positions. They are not the ones who physically perpetrate the crimes and often are not even present at the locations where the crimes are committed,” the head of the IIMM, Nicholas Koumjian, says in the statement (available in Myanmar here).

The crimes the IIMM investigates could be tried in Myanmar courts, courts in other countries, or international courts. International crimes are crimes that are so serious that they are considered to be against the international community, and are therefore not limited to courts in one country.

In other words, an international crime committed in Myanmar—for example, widespread and systematic attacks on civilians—can be tried in a court in another country or in an international court.

The Myanmar military is used to getting away with murder. Decades of well-documented killing, rape, and torture of civilians in ethnic minority areas have gone unpunished. No one has ever been tried for the killing of protesters during previous mass uprisings against military rule in 1988 and 2007.

But this time may be different. On March 4, the International Commission of Jurists said in a statement that “the killing of peaceful protesters by Myanmar’s security forces should be independently investigated as possible crimes against humanity.”

The IIMM is already set up and working. It provides a mechanism for just such an investigation. Those doing the shooting should be aware of this.

For further information:

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) on Facebook

International Accountability Mechanisms for Myanmar (learning materials in English, Myanmar, and Karen)

Lin Htet is a pen name for a team of Myanmar and international writers

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A resident said armed forces used drones to monitor the crowd before opening fire on them

Published on Mar 19, 2021
Men carry a wounded protester in Aungban, Shan State, on the morning of March 19 (Supplied)

At least eight anti-coup protesters were killed in Aungban, southern Shan State, during an attack by the military junta on demonstrations on Friday morning, according to the Aungban Free Funeral Service Society.

Sixteen military trucks carrying more than 100 policemen and soldiers arrived at the protest site at around 9:00 a.m. and began shooting at protesters. Seven died at the scene, and another protester who had been shot in the neck was taken to Kalaw Hospital and died by 11:00 a.m.

All eight victims were men. 

The body of the man who died at the hospital was sent to his family’s home, but those who were killed at the protest site were taken away by the junta’s armed forces, a representative of the Free Funeral Service Society told Myanmar Now. 

Aungban resident Nay Lynn Tun told Myanmar Now that police and soldiers had destroyed the doors of nearby homes in order to arrest people, and that at least 10 people had been detained. 

“Initially, police arrived at the site. When the crowd surrounded the police, armed soldiers arrived at the site and began firing,” he told Myanmar Now. “In the coming days, if we cannot gather to protest, we will do it in our own residential areas.”

Since March 13, around 300 volunteer night guards have watched over these residential areas to protect locals from the dangers posed by the junta’s nighttime raids. These forces use drone cameras to monitor the activities of the night guards from 3:00 a.m. until 5:00 a.m. every day, Nay Lynn Tun said. 

He added that hours before Friday’s crackdown, military and police had also used drone cameras to monitor the gathering of protesters in Aungban.

Over the last week, at least 11 protesters have been arrested in Aungban. Only three-- the protesters who were minors-- were released.

South of Shan State, in the Kayah State capital of Loikaw, two pro-democracy protesters were also shot with live ammunition by the regime’s armed forces on Friday. One, 46-year-old Kyan Aung, was shot in the lower abdomen and died from his injuries. The other wounded protester was a nurse, according to eyewitnesses. 

According to a March 18 tally by the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 224 people have been killed across the country by junta’s armed forces since the February 1 coup. Thousands more have been arrested. 

 

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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