16th February 2021
As I said previously the police in Myanmar are totally inclusive and non-discriminatory. Here is a clip of them beating an intellectually disabled young man in Mandalay.
Also, in Mandalay, there are reports of a 9-year-old girl being shot in the eye.
The protests are spreading to the provincial cities. Myaung Mya, Ayeyarwady district has seen an estimated 10 casualties. The town of Myaung Mya is in the delta region and is symbolic as it is the birthplace of U Nu, the first prime minister of Burma. It is also where Daw Khin Kyi, the wife of General Aung San, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s father was born. George Orwell served as assistant superintendent of police here when Burma was still part of India.
Railway workers in Myanmar were participating in the CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement) and ordered to resume services by the military. The following is their reaction.
Whilst there are still major street demonstrations against the coup, the opposition is moving on and the CDM actions are intensifying. The military has realised that a permanent banning of the internet would cause major damage to the economy and so they are restricting the closure from 1 am to 9 am. This gives them cover whilst they go about arresting people, “night grabbing” and importing more “seafood” from Kunming.
The support for CDM is growing amongst the Buddhist monks. This is definitely one thing the military don’t want.
Whilst all this was going on, a plane from India containing COVID-19 vaccines was denied landing rights.
The CDM movement keeps gathering more support, even amongst street vendors.
In a worrying development, the Government put treasury bills up for sale yesterday.
It carries a coupon rate of 7.5% but it will be interesting to see what that is eventually discounted to. The opening total on offer is for 200 billion MMK (Myanmar Kyat). This is about NZ$210 million. There are more auctions due in the near future, but if the prices are heavily discounted from the coupon rate the interest and debt would be crippling for the country. Who will be the buyers?
The protest is moving from street demonstrations to Civil Disobedience and whilst not ignoring the violence that is happening, I have tried to give a broader view of what is going on.
The economy is going to nosedive soon which will mean more disaster and poverty for the population. It will require more support from China and that means more dependency.
The resistance movement is getting well organised and that is a concern to the military, hence the overnight curfew and internet closure whilst they try to track down the leaders of the CDM. Expect more visible evidence of Chinese involvement in days to come.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD