A lethal attack on anti-coup protesters in Myanmar sparked fresh UN condemnation of the country’s new military regime yesterday, as mourners held a funeral for a young woman who became a national symbol of resistance to the junta.
Authorities have gradually ratcheted up their tactics against a massive and largely peaceful civil disobedience campaign demanding the return of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Saturday marked the deadliest day so far in more than two weeks of nationwide street demonstrations after two people were killed when security forces fired upon a rally, while a third man was shot dead in Yangon overnight.
Photo: AFP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the use of “deadly violence” against the crowd in Mandalay.
“The use of lethal force, intimidation & harassment against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable,” Guterres wrote.
Security forces in the country’s second-largest city had attempted to raid a shipyard and detain port staff on strike to protest against the army takeover.
Medical rescue workers said troops used live rounds and rubber bullets against a crowd of people who had started flinging rocks in an effort to stop the arrests.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a 30-year-old man was killed in Yangon while patrolling the neighborhood as part of an initiative to guard against night-time arrests of activists.
Tin Htut Hein’s sister-in-law said he had been shot by police.
“His wife is now heartbroken,” she said. “They have a four-year-old son.”
Large crowds yesterday returned to the streets of Mandalay, undeterred by the previous day’s violence, with rallies also staged further south in Yangon.
In the capital, Naypyidaw, a funeral service was held for a young protester who died on Friday after being shot in the head during a rally last week.
Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, who turned 20 last week as she lay unconscious in a hospital bed, has since become a potent symbol of the campaign against military rule.
A large motorbike guard of honor accompanied her funeral procession, alongside vehicles adorned with floral wreaths and large photographs of the grocery store worker.
Early yesterday, police also arrested a famous actor, Lu Min, who has been a prominent figure in Yangon protests and was one of six celebrities wanted under an anti-incitement law for encouraging civil servants to join the protest.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said 569 people have been detained in connection with the coup.
Meanwhile, Facebook deleted the main page of the Burmese military under it standards prohibiting the incitement of violence, the company said.
“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm,” a Facebook representative said in a statement.
The Burmese military is known as the Tatmadaw.
Additional reporting by Reuters
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS