Myanmar activists call for show of defiance on New Year
Protesters urged to wear religious attire and recite prayers during festival starting today
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YANGON • Opponents of Myanmar's coup yesterday called for people to show defiance of the military with costumes and prayers over the new year holiday, hoping to maintain the momentum of their campaign in which more than 700 people have been killed.
The traditional new year, known as Thingyan in Myanmar, is the most important holiday of the year and is usually celebrated with prayers, ritual cleaning of Buddha images in temples and high-spirited splashing of water on the streets.
"The military council doesn't own Thingyan. The power of people is in the hands of people," Ms Ei Thinzar Maung, a leader of the General Strike Collaboration Committee protest group, wrote in a post on Facebook, adding: "The people united need to hold a people's Thingyan."
She urged Buddhists to wear certain religious attire and to recite prayers together and for members of small Christian communities to wear white and read psalms.
Ms Ei Thinzar Maung also said followers of other religions should follow the lead of their leaders.
This year, the holiday runs from today to Saturday, which is New Year's Day.
Security forces have killed 706 protesters, including 46 children, since the military seized power from the elected government of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb 1 coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.
The tally included 82 people killed in the town of Bago, about 70km north-east of Yangon, last Friday, which the AAPP called a "killing field".
There were reports on social media of shooting by the security forces in the north-western town of Tamu yesterday and of police breaking up a protest in the city of Mandalay.
Details of the violence are difficult to obtain because of the junta's curbs on broadband Internet and mobile data services. A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, in a report on the violence in Bago, said that rioters armed with makeshift weapons had attacked security forces as they tried to clear protesters' barricades. It added that one rioter was killed.
"Evidence of confiscated grenades and ammunition indicates small arms were used," said the newspaper, which has been a mouthpiece of the military for years.
REUTERS
