Myanmar coup: Military releases over 600 anti-coup protesters as ‘silence strike’ begins – World News , NewsGater

Yangon: Hundreds of people jailed for demonstrating against last month’s coup in Myanmar were released on Wednesday, a rare conciliatory gesture by the military that seemed intended to quell the protest movement.

Witnesses outside the Insein Prison in Yangon saw buses packed mostly with youths, looking happy as some displayed the three-fingered defiant gesture adopted by the protesters. State television said a total of 628 were released.

Also Wednesday, Thein Zaw, an Associated Press journalist who was arrested last month while covering a protest against the coup, was released.

Myanmar’s security forces have violently cracked down on protests against a February 1 coup that reversed a decade of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country and toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The independent Political Prisoner Assistance Association says at least 275 people have died in connection with the crackdown. Thousands have also been arrested and more than 2,000 remain in custody or have charges pending against them.

Wednesday’s release was an unusual proposal by the military, who until now seemed insensitive to both the internal pressure of the protests and the external pressure of sanctions. Facing an increasingly brutal crackdown, protesters tried a new tactic on Wednesday they called a silence strike, asking people to stay home and for businesses to close for the day.

The released prisoners appear to be the hundreds of students detained in early March. A lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears drawing the attention of authorities, said all those released were arrested on March 3. He said only 55 people detained in connection with the protests remained in prison, and all likely will. He faces charges under a law that carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.

The mass release came on the same day Thein Zaw was also released. Thein Zaw told the AP that the judge in his case announced during a hearing that all charges against him were dropped because he was doing his job at the time of his arrest.

“I am looking forward to meeting my family members,” he said. “I feel sorry for some colleagues who are still in prison.”

Meanwhile, online messages urged people to stay home Wednesday in protest, rather than flood the streets as they have done in the past, saying silence is “the loudest cry.” The messages explained that the purpose of the strike was to honor the movement’s fallen heroes, allow the protesters to recharge, and contradict the junta’s claims that “everything was back to normal.”

The extent of the strike was difficult to measure, but social media users posted photos of cities and towns that showed streets empty of activity, save for the occasional stray dog. Some protesters came out to release red balloons with attached flyers.

The new tactic was employed after a prolonged bout of violence by security forces.

Local media reported that a 7-year-old girl in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, was among the latest victims on Tuesday. The Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners included her on its list of fatalities.

“Khin Myo Chit was shot in the abdomen by a soldier while sitting on her father’s lap inside their home in the Aung Pin Le neighborhood,” Myanmar Now online news service reported, citing her sister, Aye Chan San.

The report said the shooting took place as soldiers raided houses in his family’s neighborhood. The sister said that a soldier shot her father when he denied that there were people hiding in his house, and beat the girl.

Aye Chan San said the soldiers beat her 19-year-old brother with their rifle butts and took him away.

Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the United Nations is “extremely concerned about the murder by security forces of a 7-year-old girl in her home.”

“There must be accountability for all crimes and human rights violations that continue to be perpetrated in Myanmar,” he said.

Haq said the U, N. took note of reports of the release of hundreds of protesters and remained concerned about the ongoing arrests by the military, including journalists and civil society leaders.

The UN called for “the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” Haq said.

He said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener “will continue to mobilize international action for the restoration of democracy and human rights in Myanmar.”