24th March 2021
It takes a lot to leave me speechless, but today, words fail me. Troops and police raided a house in Mandalay and deliberately opened fire, killing a 7-year-old girl sitting on her father’s lap having a cuddle. Unfortunately, this is now typical of the sociopaths recruited into the military.
The resistance is taking many forms and in Myeik, the Barbie community turned out in force to protest against the coup.
Unfortunately, the Barbie community gave the police a problem as they are too small to shoot.
It certainly got noticed on social media and made its point without a protestor being injured.
On a more serious note, the military claimed that the CDM was crumbling, and Myanmar was returning to normality. To prove a point the whole country went on strike.
Myanmar was a nation of ghost towns Wednesday as opponents of the military regime collectively shamed the junta’s recent claims of “normalcy” in the country by staying home and shutting down their businesses in city after city.
People across the country were on “Silent Strike” as part of their ongoing opposition against the military regime that grabbed power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government on Feb. 1 by staging a coup.
Since mid-February, major cities across the country have been reeling from chaos caused by violence and deadly crackdowns by soldiers and police on anti-regime protesters. Shops and markets have cut their business hours short due to frequent and fatal confrontations between security forces and protesters on the streets. Many closed their businesses entirely out of fear. Roads that used to be crowded with traffic are now blocked by barricades set up by protesters to deter the advancement of troops.
Beginning last week, the regime launched a serious effort to reopen businesses by force and clear roadblocks with the occasional use of forced labor, grabbing anyone they saw on the road or from their homes.
Then they trumpeted on state-owned and military-controlled media that “markets and malls at some townships in Yangon (Myanmar’s business hub) have reopened as situations returned to normalcy.”
In response to the regime’s claim of normalcy, people campaigned online to launch a one-day silent strike partly to prove that the claim was wrong and also to demonstrate another form of defiance against the junta.
On Wednesday, roads in major cities like Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw, Monywa and others were mostly deserted.
Major businesses like the country’s biggest retail malls like City Mart, Ocean announced they were closed. Taxi and delivery service Grab suspended its service. Local wet markets turned dry as they only opened a few hours in the morning to let people buy necessities. Even corner stores like ABC and City Express were closed. Wholesale markets were no exception. Even protesters took a day off.
With a handful of cars on the road and few people out to shop for necessities, downtown Yangon on Wednesday was reminiscent of the COVID lockdown period that the city underwent nearly one year ago. On some shady roads of the city, stray dogs napped safely under the hot mid-day sun as there was no vehicle traffic to interrupt their freedom.
Myanmar second biggest city, Mandalay, totally plunged into silence after 8 a.m. Wednesday. The city’s busiest area near Zay Cho market was totally deserted, according to witnesses. Buddhist monks who normally went around the city in the morning to receive food and other offerings broke their ritual on Wednesday.
“I have never experienced that kind of silence in my life, not even during the COIVD,” said U Kyaw Thiha, a city resident.
The 40-year-old added that the strike on Wednesday was a testament of the people’s unity when it came to saying no to the junta.
“We have no leader telling us what to do. People just join together out of their conscience to oppose the dictatorship,” he said.
Source the Irrawaddy 24th March 2021.
Finally, we have some news of Sean Turnell the Australian academic and economic advisor to the NLD.
Sean Turnell, the detained Australian economic adviser to ousted Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is being investigated and faces two possible charges by the military regime in connection with its accusation that he tried to flee the country with secret financial information following the Feb. 1 military takeover.
On Tuesday, the military revealed for the first time the possible charges against Turnell, who was detained on Feb. 6.
During a press conference, junta spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said the Australian professor is under investigation on two counts of violating the country’s immigration and official secrets acts.
The offenses carry imprisonment terms of five and seven years, respectively.
The military spokesman said Turnell had been allowed to speak with family and diplomats from the Australian Embassy in Yangon on two occasions.
“We will continue to allow him to speak [with family and the embassy],” the spokesman said.
Turnell’s family and the Australian government have repeatedly called for Turnell’s release. He served as one of the top economic advisers to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for several years. He is also director of research at the Myanmar Development Institute (MDI), a leading economic think-tank focused on building the capacity of the government.
The Australian government suspended its defense cooperation program with Myanmar in early March due to concerns over the escalating violence and rising death toll as regime forces cracked down on protesters.
The junta has also detained the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar and a number of ministers and their deputies who served in key economic ministries under the National League for Democracy-led government.
Source the Irrawaddy 24th March 2021.
Things are looking bleak for Sean as the regime will be looking for more trumped-up charges against him and also will try to get information from him that they can use to construct further charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
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