WRAPUP 7-Myanmar police warn protesters to disperse or face force
Reuters
Updated 4 min read
(Recasts with police warning)
* Water cannon used on protesters in capital Naypyitaw
* Protests the largest since 'Saffron Revolution' of 2007
* Calls for government workers to join campaign
* Myanmar protesters 'inspire the world' - UN specialrapporteur
Feb 8 (Reuters) - Myanmar police on Monday warned protestersto disperse or face force shortly after state televisionsignalled impending action to stifle mass demonstrations againsta military coup and the arrest of elected leader Aung San SuuKyi.
Tens of thousands of people joined a third day of streetdemonstrations in towns and cities across the country todenounce the military for its seizure of power last Monday.
In the capital Naypyitaw, three lines of police in riot gearcould be seen across a road as protesters chanted anti-coupslogans and told police they should serve the people not themilitary, according to media and a live feed of events.
Police placed a sign in the road saying that live ammunitioncould be used if demonstrators breached the third line ofofficers.
Earlier, police in Naypyitaw briefly turned water cannon onprotesters.
Reuters has been unable to contact the junta for comment onthe protests, but state media signalled possible action againstthem in the first comment from any government channel, sayingthe public wanted rid of "wrongdoers".
"We, the whole people who value justice, freedom, equality,peace and safety, not only refuse to accept the lawlesswrongdoers but also request that they be prevented and removedthrough cooperation," the MRTV television station said in acomment.
Though not attributed to any authority or group, it waslater read out on a military-owned network.
Calls to join protests and to back a campaign of civildisobedience have grown louder and more organised since thecoup, which drew widespread international condemnation.
"We health workers are leading this campaign to urge allgovernment staff to join," Aye Misan, a nurse at a governmenthospital said at a protest in the biggest city of Yangon.
"Our message to the public is that we aim to completelyabolish this military regime and we have to fight for ourdestiny."
Gatherings have been good natured and largely peaceful,unlike bloody crackdowns on previous protests, in 1988 and 2007in particular.
Thousands also marched also in the southeastern city ofDawei and in the Kachin state capital in the far north, themassive crowds reflecting a rejection of military rule bydiverse ethnic groups, even those who have been critical of SuuKyi and accused her government of neglecting minorities.
In Yangon, a group of saffron-robed monks, who have ahistory of rallying community action in the overwhelminglyBuddhist country, marched in the vanguard of protests withworkers and students. They flew multicoloured Buddhist flagsalongside red banners in the colour of Suu Kyi's National leaguefor Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide election in November.
"Release Our Leaders, Respect Our Votes, Reject MilitaryCoup," said one sign.
The protests are the biggest since the "Saffron Revolution"led by monks in 2007, which led over subsequent years to themilitary's gradual withdrawal from politics after decades ofdirect rule, a process brought to a jarring halt by the Feb. 1coup.
CALL FOR STRIKE
In a development likely to worry the military, somegovernment workers have been seen joining doctors and someteachers in rallying to the call for a campaign of civildisobedience and strikes.
"We request government staff from all departments not toattend work from Monday," said activist Min Ko Naing, a veteranof the 1988 demonstrations that brought Suu Kyi to prominence.
The government lifted a day-long internet ban at theweekend. The block prompted even more anger in a country fearfulof returning to the isolation and poverty before the transitionto democracy began in 2011.
Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigningfor democracy and spent nearly 15 years under house as shestruggled to end almost half a century of army rule.
The 75-year-old has been kept incommunicado since army chiefGeneral Min Aung Hlaing seized power in the early hours of Feb.1 to counter what the military said was widespread fraud in theNov. 8 election. The election commission rejected complaints offraud.
Suu Kyi faces charges of illegally importing sixwalkie-talkies and is being held in police detention until Feb.15. Her lawyer said he has not been allowed to see her.
The daughter of the former British colony’s independencehero Aung San, Suu Kyi remains hugely popular at home despitedamage to her international reputation over the plight of theMuslim Rohingya minority.
While Western governments have condemned the coup, there hasbeen little in the way of concrete action to press the generals.
The U.N. Security Council has called for the release of SuuKyi and other detainees and the United States is consideringtargeted sanctions.
Australia condemned the coup and demanded the immediaterelease of a citizen who was working as an economic adviser tothe Suu Kyi government, who was arrested over the weekend.
Pope Francis urged Myanmar's military leaders to freepolitical prisoners and resume the "brusquely interrupted" pathto democracy.
(Reporting by Reuters staffWriting by Matthew Tostevin and Lincoln Feast; Editing byRichard Pullin, Robert Birsel and Angus MacSwan)
