YANGON: Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was formally charged on Wednesday two days after she was detained in a military coup, as calls for civil disobedience to oppose the putsch gathered pace.
The Southeast Asian nation was plunged back into direct military rule when soldiers arrested key civilian leaders in a series of dawn raids on Monday, ending the army’s brief flirtation with democracy.
Su Kyi, who has not been seen in public since, won a huge landslide with her National League for Democracy (NLD) last November, but the military — whose favoured parties received a drubbing — declared the polls fraudulent. On Wednesday, the NLD’s press officer said the 75-year-old was formally charged with an offence under Myanmar’s import and export law, with a court signing off on two weeks’ remand.
The unusual charge stemmed from a search of her house following her arrest in which walkie-talkies were discovered, according to a leaked police charging document seen by reporters.
A similarly unorthodox charge under the country’s disaster management law against President Win Myint revolved around him allegedly breaching anti-coronavirus measures last year by meeting voters on the campaign trail.
With soldiers and armoured cars back on the streets of major cities, the takeover has not been met by any large street protests.
But signs of public anger and plans to resist have begun to flicker.
Doctors and medical staff at multiple hospitals across the country announced Wednesday they were donning red ribbons and walking away from all non-emergency work to protest against the coup.
“Our main goal is to accept only the government we elected,” Aung San Min, head of a 100-bed hospital in Gangaw district, told AFP.
Some medical teams posted pictures on social media wearing red ribbons — NLD colours — and raising a three-finger salute, a protest gesture used by democracy activists in neighbouring Thailand, while some have chosen to bypass work altogether.
“My protest starts today by not going to the hospital... I have no desire to work under the military dictatorship,” said Nor Nor Wint Wah, a doctor in Mandalay.
Activists were announcing their campaigns on a Facebook group called “Civil Disobedience Movement” which by Wednesday afternoon had more than 150,000 followers within 24 hours of its launch.
The clatter of pots and pans — and the honking of car horns — also rang out across the commercial capital Yangon on Wednesday evening for a second night in a row after calls for protest went out on social media.
In some neighbourhoods, residents shouted in the streets and sang democracy protest songs.
Late on Wednesday, the military issued a statement rejecting rumours that 5000 kyat ($3.70) and 10,000 kyat notes ($7.40) would be demonetised.
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