Myanmar minorities join growing protest movement against military rule

Joe Biden's administration blocks regime access to US funds as protests continue

Protesters give three-finger salutes outside the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, as they demonstrate against the military coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Reuters

Groups of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic minorities marched behind their regional flags in one of the large protests on Thursday.

The demonstrations displayed the broad opposition around the country to last week’s military takeover.

Resistance to the coup received a major boost from abroad from US President Joe Biden, who ordered new sanctions and promised more measures to come.

“The military must relinquish power it seized and demonstrate respect for the will of the people,” he said.

Tens of thousands of protesters, if not more, have marched daily in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s biggest cities. Large rallies also have been taking place in the capital Naypyidaw and many other cities and towns.

Participants have included factory workers, civil servants, students and teachers, medical personnel and other people from all walks of life. Buddhist monks and Catholic clergy have been visible.

The protesters are demanding that power be restored to the elected government and detained party officials, including ousted national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, be freed. About 200 politicians and activists have been arrested, according to the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

The junta has shown no signs of backing down and on Wednesday night arrested more senior members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, along with other politicians and activists. Also reported to have been taken from their homes were members of the state election commission who certified the landslide victory of Suu Kyi’s party in last November’s election.

The military based its February 1 takeover on allegations the election was marred by irregularities, though the commission found no evidence to support them. The junta has formed a new commission to investigate the allegations and promised to turn over power to the winners of a new election after a one-year state of emergency.

Surging opposition 

The participation of ethnic minority marchers in Yangon, many dressed in the colourful traditional garb of their regions, underlined the depth and breadth of the opposition to last week’s coup.

While much attention has focused on protests in Myanmar’s major heartland cities, large daily protests have also taken place in the far-flung border areas home to minorities such as the Shan, the Karen, the Kachin, the Kayah and others. Ethnic minorities have long been the targets of repression by the military, which has used brutal counterinsurgency tactics to crush their decades-long aspirations for greater autonomy.

But the military has not hesitated to employ force in big cities either. Juntas ruled directly for five decades after a 1962 coup, and used lethal force to quash a massive 1988 uprising and a 2007 revolt led by Buddhist monks.

International sanctions long were employed by Western governments in reaction to those crackdowns, but they were eased when elections in 2010 and 2015 showed the country’s tentative steps toward democracy.

At the White House on Wednesday, Mr Biden said he was issuing an executive order that will prevent Myanmar’s generals from accessing $1 billion in assets in the US.

It remains to be seen what, if any, impact the US action will have on Myanmar’s military regime. Many of the military leaders are already under sanctions because of attacks against the Muslim Rohingya minority.