A key aide to ousted Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested yesterday, days after a coup that has sparked outrage and calls by US President Joe Biden for the generals to relinquish power.
The arrest came after the streets of Myanmar’s biggest city filled for a third night with people banging pots and honking car horns, voicing their opposition to Monday’s coup.
Yesterday, teachers at Dagon University in the city staged a rally, at which they displayed a three-finger salute borrowed from Hong Kong and Thailand’s democracy movements, and sang a revolution song.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The military detained Aung San Suu Kyi and Burmese President Win Myint early on Monday, ending the country’s 10-year dalliance with democracy that had followed decades of junta rule.
Win Htein, considered to be Aung San Suu Kyi’s right-hand man, was arrested at his daughter’s house, said Kyi Toe, a press officer for the National League of Democracy.
The 79-year-old party stalwart has spent long stretches in and out of detention for campaigning against military rule.
Photo: Reuters
Ahead of his arrest, Win Htein told local media that the military putsch was “not wise,” and that its leaders had taken the country “in the wrong direction.”
“Everyone in the country should oppose as much as they can the actions they are seeking to take us back to zero by destroying our government,” he told Frontier Myanmar in the coup’s aftermath.
Aung San Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since Monday.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Yangon-based group that monitors political arrests in Myanmar, more than 130 officials and lawmakers have been detained in relation to the coup.
At least 14 rights advocates and prominent pro-democracy figures have also been arrested, the association said.
On Thursday, Kaung Satt Naing, nephew of filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi — who has previously been jailed for criticizing the military — confirmed that his uncle had been picked up on the morning of the coup.
“I think they arrested all dissidents who could share the right information to the public,” Kaung Satt Naing said.
With Facebook stifled, Burmese have moved to Twitter in the past few days or started using virtual private network services to bypass curbs online.
Hashtags opposing the coup — including #HearTheVoiceofMyanmar and #RespectOurVotes — were trending yesterday, with more than 7 million posts citing them.
A so-called Civil Disobedience Movement has gathered steam online, calling on people to voice opposition every night by banging pots and clanging cymbals to show their anger.
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