Americans in Myanmar urged to play it safe amid military movements

YANGON • The US embassy in Myanmar yesterday called on Americans to "shelter in place", citing reports of military movements in the commercial capital Yangon, after armoured vehicles were sighted for the first time since the Feb 1 military coup.

The embassy said there was a "possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1am and 9am".

Myanmar's new military government yesterday warned the public not to harbour fugitive activists after issuing arrest warrants for veteran democracy campaigners supporting big anti-coup protests.

Much of the nation has been in uproar since soldiers detained Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted her government, ending a decade-old fledgling democracy after generations of junta rule.

Security forces have stepped up arrests of doctors and others joining a civil disobedience movement that has drawn huge crowds in urban centres and frontier villages.

Police are seeking seven people who lent support to the protests.

"If you find any fugitives... or if you have information about them, report to the nearest police station," state media said. "Those who receive them will (face) action in accordance with the law."

Among the list of fugitives is activist Min Ko Naing, who spent more than a decade in prison for helping lead protests against a dictatorship in 1988.

"They are arresting the people at night and we've to be careful," he said in a video posted on Facebook on Saturday, skirting a junta ban on the platform, hours before his arrest warrant was issued.

The 1988 protests vaulted Ms Suu Kyi to the top of Myanmar's democracy movement, and she spent years under house arrest as a prisoner of the generals.

Ms Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since she was detained on Feb 1 alongside top aides.

Nearly 400 others have been arrested in the days since, including many of her top political allies.

Military leader Min Aung Hlaing suspended laws requiring warrants for home searches as part of several legal manoeuvres announced on Saturday.

In Yangon, many areas have begun forming neighbourhood watch brigades to monitor their communities overnight - in defiance of a curfew - and prevent the arrests of residents.

Some have expressed fears that a mass prisoner amnesty earlier was done to release inmates into the public to stir trouble, while freeing up space in overcrowded jails for political detainees.

"We don't trust anyone at this time, especially those with uniforms," said Ms Myo Ko Ko, a member of a street patrol in Yangon.

Near the city's central train station, residents rolled tree trunks onto a road to block police vehicles and escorted away officers who were trying to send striking railway employees back to work.

Engineering students marched through downtown Yangon in a ninth straight day of protests, carrying placards demanding the release of Ms Suu Kyi.

Her detention, on charges of importing walkie-talkies, expires today. Her lawyer could not be reached for comment on what was set to happen.

Solidarity protests have been staged in neighbouring Thailand, home to a large community of Myanmar migrant workers, as well as in the United States, Japan and Australia.

But the country's new military leadership has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation. The junta insists it took power lawfully.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS