Medical staff are striking in defiance of the Myanmar coup
Credit: Lynn Bo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns across Myanmar have stopped work as calls for civil disobedience gather pace in protest against a military coup and the arrest of the Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader, and members of her ruling party.
A Facebook statement issued by the Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement on Wednesday morning said that the military’s ruthless actions had put “their own interests above our vulnerable population, who have been facing medical, economic and social hardships during this global pandemic.”
It made a direct appeal to the international medical community to pressure foreign governments not to recognise the “illegitimate military regime.”
The 15-member United Nations Security Council held an emergency teleconference on Tuesday to discuss Myanmar’s security but has so far stopped short of issuing a statement condemning the military’s actions.
Talks among Security Council members, which includes China – one of Myanmar’s biggest trading partners — are said to be continuing to seek agreement on a statement urging the restoration of democracy. The UN missions for China and Russia have sent it to their capitals for review.
Medical staff in a Yangon hospital show red ribbons as a sign of resistance against the military takeover
Credit: Lynn Bo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN’s ambassador to Myanmar, has called the military’s declaration of a one-year state of emergency “unconstitutional and illegal” and said its proposal to hold elections again should be discouraged.
"At this point in time, we must ensure the protection of people of Myanmar and their fundamental rights. We must do everything to prevent violence from breaking out," she added.
Barbara Woodward, Britain’s UN ambassador, the current council president, told reporters after the meeting that ambassadors echoed widespread international concerns about the military’s action at the virtual session.
“And we welcome the role of regional partners … to resolve this crisis,” including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, she said.
The United States on Tuesday determined that the military’s seizure of power amounts to a coup, which will trigger restrictions on American aid to the Southeast Asian nation’s government. Joe Biden, the US president, had already warned that the military leadership faces new sanctions for its takeover.
Protests from Myanmar rally in Japan
Credit: Issei Kato/Reuters
After Myanmar’s population of 54 million was initially stunned by the coup in the early hours of Monday – the day its new parliament should have begun sitting – signs of dissent began to emerge on Tuesday night as citizens began banging pots and honking car horns in the main commercial city of Yangon.
People chanted “evil be gone” in the biggest public display of anger so far. Protesters have so far not taken to the streets en masse in a country with a recent history of violent suppression of pro-democracy movements, but military supporters have been spotted celebrating, some brandishing knives.
Reports emerged overnight that youth activists had gone into hiding as the army widened its crackdown and raided their homes and university hostels.
On Tuesday, the Yangon Youth Network activist group, one of Myanmar’s biggest, and the federation of student unions launched their own civil disobedience campaigns, echoing the open defiance of the medical profession, which has been dubbed the "red ribbon movement."
Soldiers guard the road to the parliament in the capital, Naypyitaw
Credit: Maung Longlan/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Doctors, who have been bearing the brunt of the raging pandemic in an already overburdened healthcare system, have said they will only return to work for the government that was democratically elected in a November poll, under the leadership of the widely popular Aung San Suu Kyi.
“We will care for the patients, but we won’t do anything related to the military government,” Dr Yin May Aung, an assistant surgeon at a Yangon hospital, told the Telegraph.
“Our red ribbon campaign doesn’t mean we will neglect patients..our motive is to show we do not accept the military coup at all. We will fight back until we die, and we will keep doing civil disobedience campaigns on social media.”
The doctors protest presents a powerful challenge to the military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has declared fighting the coronavirus as one of his main priorities. Myanmar was hit badly by a surge in cases late last year which has killed over 3,100 people and infected more than 140,000.
Resistance to the military takeover has also spread across social media, where many Facebook users have changed their profile pictures to Ms Suu Kyi, or the red colour of her National League for Democracy party.
Some announced boycotts of beer and other products from companies with links to the army’s extensive business holdings.
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