Burmese security forces yesterday arrested Paing Takhon, a model and actor who had spoken out against a military coup, his sister told reporters, as people placed shoes filled with flowers in parts of Yangon to commemorate dead protesters.
Troops on Wednesday opened fire on protesters, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, protesters and media said.
Nearly 600 civilians have been killed by security forces since the junta in February seized power from the elected government of Aung San Su Kyi, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP / ANONYMOUS SOURCE
The advocacy group said that 2,847 were being held in detention.
A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment.
Arrest warrants have been issued for hundreds of people, with the junta this week going after scores of influencers, entertainers, artists and musicians.
Paing Takhon, 24, a model and actor, is among several celebrities detained in the country.
He had condemned the military’s takeover and pledged support for Aung San Su Kyi.
His sister, Thi Thi Lwin, told reporters that the military detained him at 4:30am at their parents’ home in Yangon, where he had been staying for several days while unwell.
The security forces came with eight military trucks and about 50 soldiers, and it was unclear where he had been taken, she said
Paing Takhon had been sick with malaria and a heart condition, his sister said.
A comedian named Zarganar was arrested on Tuesday, media reported.
Meanwhile, Burmese Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the coup, said in a statement on Wednesday that the civil disobedience movement, or CDM, had halted the working of hospitals, schools, roads, offices and factories.
“CDM is an activity to destroy the country,” he said.
Fitch Solutions said in a report that Western sanctions targeting the military were unlikely to succeed in restoring democracy, but the army was losing control.
It predicted a violent revolution pitting the military against an armed opposition comprised of members of the anti-coup movement and ethnic militias.
“The escalating violence on civilians and ethnic militias show that the Tatmadaw [military] is increasingly losing control of the country,” Fitch Solutions said.
The vast majority of people back the ousted government, it said.
Aung San Su Kyi and leading figures in her National League for Democracy party, which won an election in November last year that was annulled by the coup, are in detention.
UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener hopes to visit the country in the next few days, a UN spokesman said in New York.
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