The repression is not weakening in Burma.
The security forces were deployed on Sunday, March 7, at nightfall in several neighborhoods of Yangon, the economic capital, after thousands of people, several of whom were injured, demonstrated against the junta during the day.
Detonations were heard in the evening, according to broadcasts broadcast on social networks.
Saturday, night police operations had already been carried out, targeting officials of the National League for Democracy (LND), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, overthrown on February 1 by the military.
A local representative of the NLD, Khin Maung Latt, 58, was then killed.
"Beaten and then taken out of his home, he apparently did not survive the harsh interrogation he endured," lamented Tun Kyi, a former political prisoner.
Another party official, Maung Maung, was also targeted, but the security forces could not find him.
His brother was "tortured because there was no one to arrest," said a former LND parliamentarian.
MPs who fail to recognize the legitimacy of the coup and have created a committee to represent the civilian government are guilty of "high treason", a crime punishable by death or 22 years in prison, warned Sunday state media.
Police fire with live ammunition
Earlier in the day, the army and the police used tear gas, rubber ammunition but also live ammunition to disperse rallies in favor of democracy, according to testimonies collected by AFP.
Some protesters were injured, particularly in Yangon, where a 20-year-old man had his ear torn off, according to images posted on social media.
In central Burma, in Mandalay, theater in recent days of the death of several protesters, two rescuers were hit by gunfire;
one managed to escape, the other was taken away by the police, according to their colleague Yan Naing.
A protester was also injured.
>> See also: Burma: "The generals did not understand the importance of the pro-democracy movement"
About 100 kilometers away, in Bagan, famous for its century-old pagodas, an 18-year-old teenager was shot in the jaw with a rubber bullet while a woman was shot in the leg, we learned from rescuers.
Citizens must "not get involved in rallies to prevent their children's future from being ruined," state media warned.
Despite the threats, thousands of people demonstrated in Burma on Sunday and saffron-robed monks staged a large sit-in in Mandalay.
Towards a continuation of the protest movement
The mobilization is to continue Monday, the main unions having spoken in favor of an intensification of the general strike "to save democracy".
"The time has come to act. We call for (...) the complete and prolonged shutdown of the economy," nine unions wrote in a statement.
The strike, which began in the hours following the coup, has already had a significant impact on many sectors of Myanmar's fragile economy, with banks unable to function, hospitals closed and ministerial offices empty.
The officials who will not have returned to work on Monday will be sacked, for its part warned the junta.
More than 50 people have been killed since the start of the peaceful uprising, including, according to the UN, at least 38 on Wednesday, the bloodiest day.
State media deny any involvement of the police and the military in the deaths of civilians.
When asked, the junta did not respond to AFP's requests.
The Union, Solidarity and Development Party (PUSD), supported by the military, is participating in the attacks: members of the movement killed a local representative of the NLD and a 17-year-old boy on Friday.
Local officials, journalists, activists, artists: hundreds of people have been arrested since February 1.
Faced with the deterioration of the situation, about fifty Burmese, including eight police officers who refused to take part in the repression, reached neighboring India, on the border of which a hundred others are still massed.
An international response deadlocked
The generals turn a deaf ear to the concert of protests from the international community, divided on the response to be provided.
The UN Security Council failed on Friday to agree on a joint declaration and negotiations are due to continue next week.
The United States and the European Union have announced sanctions, but observers are urging an international embargo on arms deliveries.
However, China and Russia, traditional allies of the junta, have so far refused to officially condemn the putsch.
Australia announced on Sunday that it was suspending its modest military cooperation program (focused on the training of officers) with Burma.
In Bangkok, thousands of Burmese immigrant workers in Thailand demonstrated in front of the United Nations representation, urging the international community to react more firmly.
With AFP
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