Burmese security forces launched a raid in Rangoon on Wednesday against striking railway workers involved in the civil disobedience movement against the military, while the UN has yet to reach a consensus to condemn the coup.
Hundreds of police and military vehicles were deployed around the compound where the railway personnel of the Ma Hlwa Gone station reside, in the east of the economic capital.
“They block the doors (of the apartments) and destroy them to enter,” a relative of a railway worker told AFP who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “I managed to escape, but I am worried about the workers” and their families, she added.
According to her, some 800 railway workers participate in the civil disobedience movement at this station.
Doctors, teachers, employees of electric and railway companies and many civil servants have stopped working since the coup on February 1 that overthrew the civil government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The generals, who ended a decade of democratic transition, continue their repression, turning a deaf ear to the demands of the international community, divided around Burma.
In the United Nations Security Council, two versions of a joint statement – which proposed an explicit condemnation of the coup and possible additional sanctions – were rejected by China, Russia, India and Vietnam, diplomats informed AFP, according to which they continue negotiations in search of a common position.
The United Kingdom, the United States and other Western countries have imposed targeted sanctions.
– “Total paralysis of the economy” –
This civil disobedience movement disrupts Burmese’s fragile economy, with empty administrative offices, schools and hospitals, and banks closed.
The main unions have called for a “total paralysis of the economy” to try to paralyze the country and increase pressure on the military.
The board ordered officials to return to work starting March 8, if they do not want to be fired and expose themselves to retaliation.
Since the coup, there have been daily protests across the country. This Wednesday some rallies were organized.
In Myingyan (center), three pro-democracy protesters were injured, one of them seriously, according to rescuers.
But the heavy military presence, mainly in Yangon’s Sanchaung neighborhood – where security forces surrounded hundreds of protesters on Sunday – was a deterrent and demonstrations were less numerous.
During Tuesday night, seven protesters were arrested in that neighborhood, according to state media.
In another part of the city, security forces set fire to makeshift barricades, threatening residents to set fire to their apartments, a 26-year-old resident told AFP.
The junta seems more determined than ever to prevail, with raids on residential buildings, hospitals, universities, mass arrests, deadly force.
At least 60 civilians have died and nearly 2,000 people have been detained since February 1, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners.
– Symbolic gesture –
The military has also raided independent media and withdrawn operating licenses. About twenty journalists are in custody.
The army denies involvement in the deaths of protesters, and justifies its act of force by alleging electoral fraud in the November legislative elections that Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), overwhelmingly won.
In a symbolic gesture, several dismissed LND deputies announced on Facebook the appointment of one of their leaders, Mahn Win Khaing Than, vice president of the country, in charge of replacing former president Win Myint and former head of government Aung San Suu Kyi, detained in a secret place.
Deputies who do not recognize the legitimacy of the junta and who have created a committee to represent the civilian government become guilty of “high treason,” a crime punishable by death or 22 years in detention, the military warned.
Two LND officials have died in detention in recent days. Many have been arrested, three of them on Tuesday night.