Pro-military mob attacks local residents, anti-coup protesters in downtown Yangon

A man was badly beaten by a knife-wielding attacker and several others on Thursday morning as a pro-military mob marched in downtown Yangon, attacking local residents and anti-coup protesters with rocks, slingshots and sticks. 

CCTV footage captured near the Sule Shangri-La Hotel showed a crowd of people, including children, fleeing as an attacker walked behind them pointing a long knife in their direction. 

The man then turned around and intercepted someone who was running from more attackers, lunging at him while still holding the knife. The victim fell to the ground and the assailants repeatedly kicked him and beat him with sticks, only stopping after two women intervened. 

The footage shows one of the women crouching over the man and protecting him with her arm as the knife-wielding attacker lands a final kick before leaving. 

In a separate video posted on social media, the victim is seen lying on the ground after the attack with his nose and mouth covered in blood.  

A medic who helped treat the injured man said he was in his 40s and broke a bone in his left hand in the attack.

“There is no stab wound. He is not in a critical condition; he is back home,” said the medic, whose team was nearby at the time of the attack and came after hearing cries for help.  

‘Stone them!’

The attack came after a group of hundreds of military supporters gathered near the Thamada Cinema at around 8.30am with banners reading “We Stand With Our Defence Services”. 

Residents in the neighbourhood, which has a major train station and houses many railway staff, responded by banging pots and pans to express their disapproval. 

The military supporters then began throwing stones at a crowd of some 200 residents, witnesses said. At least four people sustained head injuries while eight others were wounded less seriously, they added.

“I heard one of them shout ‘Stone them!’ They threw stones at women and children and also shot slingshots,” said a railway worker who witnessed the incident.

“Pro-military supporters were dancing to songs while residents were banging pans. At around 9.00am, the supporters started to go beat some residents,” said Nay Myo Aung, a witness. “They had slingshots and metal batons. People from the housing also threw water bottles and pots that they had in their hands.”

Railway staff in Yangon are among tens of thousands of government employees who are on strike to prevent the military from being able to govern the country.

Later, police who had been blocking Sule Pagoda road to prevent anti-coup protesters from rallying in the area removed the barricades to allow the pro-military mob to pass through.

The mob marched around downtown and returned to their original rallying point at around midday. As they returned, residents captured at least another 22 military supporters in relation to the earlier violence.

They initially refused to hand them over to the police without a guarantee that action would be taken against them. After a stand-off that lasted several hours, the residents handed them over to security forces in the afternoon. 

Residents also seized a notebook from a truck used by the military supporters that detailed records of payments to people ranging from between 1,000 and 40,000 kyat. 

Many believe the books, pictures of which have circulated on social media, are evidence that the mob was paid by the military. 

A Myanmar Now investigation in 2019 found evidence that the military’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), had paid some people to attend a protest in support of the ultranationalist monk Wirathu, while tricking others into attending. 

Myanmar Now was unable to confirm whether or not the notebooks found on Thursday detailed payments to people who joined the pro-military march.

Brighter future 

Some observers online warned against depicting the violence in ways that might play into the military’s hands. 

“These are not ‘clashes’. Peaceful protesters were attacked by the military,” Mark Farmaner, director of the Burma Campaign UK pressure group, wrote in response to a tweet from the AFP news agency describing the violence as “clashes”. 

“Just because the military used thugs instead of uniformed soldiers doesn’t mean it wasn’t an attack,” he added. 

One of the military supporters wore a green USDP t-shirt with the words “Brighter Future” written on it. 

Another spoke to journalists and identified himself as Win Naing, the chair of the USDP’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt township office. His secretary and some party members were captured by the local residents, he said.

When a reporter asked him if the USDP had directed the military supporters to attack people, he grew angry. People who were with him then hit two of the reporters’ cameras and broke them. 

Police then escorted him and his companions away in a truck. 

Police have refused to say if they will take action against the people who attacked residents and protesters earlier in the day. 

Later on Thursday evening in Tamwe, police dispersed about 50 residents who had gathered to protest against the appointment of a new ward administrator by the military junta. At least ten people have been arrested and police have blockaded the area.