Police were seen standing without intervening as a group lauding the military takeover attacked anti-coup protesters in Yangon.
Yangon, Myanmar — Members of a group supporting Myanmar’s military junta attacked and injured people protesting Thursday against the army’s February 1 seizure of power that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. At least several people were injured in the attacks in Myanmar’s largest city. The chaos complicates an already intractable standoff between the military and a protest movement that has been staging large-scale demonstrations daily to have Suu Kyi’s government restored to power. It comes as social media giant Facebook said it was, reacting specifically, it said, to « deadly violence » in the country. Photos and videos on social media showed the attacks and injured people in downtown Yangon as police stood by without intervening. The attackers fired slingshots and carried iron rods, knives and other sharp implements. A widely-circulated video showed one man stabbed in front of an office building near a major downtown intersection on the road to Sule Pagoda, a major venue for anti-coup protests. The number of injured people and their condition could not immediately be learned. According to accounts and photos posted on social media, the situation began with a march of hundreds of people in support of the coup.
