Myanmar cracked down brutally on protests. It may get worse.
Source: AP
By VICTORIA MILKO and FOSTER KLUG
TOKYO (AP) — Myanmar’s security forces have killed scores of demonstrators protesting a coup. The new junta has jailed journalists — and anyone else capable of exposing the violence. It has done away with even limited legal protections. The outside world has responded so far with tough words, a smattering of sanctions and little else.
The slide from a nascent democracy to yet another coup, as rapid as it has been brutal, opens up a grim possibility: As bad as it looks in Myanmar now, if the country’s long history of violent military rule is any guide, things could get worse.
Protesters have continued to fill the streets despite violence that left 38 people dead one day this week — though in smaller numbers than the weeks right after the Feb. 1 coup. They have used smartphones to capture the brutality. Recent videos show security forces shooting a person at point-blank range and chasing down and savagely beating demonstrators.
The military, however, has the clear upper hand, with sophisticated weapons, a large network of spies, the ability to cut telecoms, and decades of fighting experience from civil conflicts in the country’s borderlands.
In this Feb. 26, 2021, file photo, an injured protester is escorted as police tried to disperse a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar. Myanmar's security forces have killed scores of demonstrators protesting a coup. The outside world has responded so far with tough words, a smattering of sanctions and little else. (AP Photo)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-brutal-crackdown-on-protests-fa04e942ac4b4abba0e9a29692dbbbc6
