Myanmar activists have launched a “garbage strike” to oppose military rule as the number of pro-democracy protesters killed by security forces rose to 500.
Around 510 civilians have been killed since Myanmar’s junta launched a crackdown on protesters demonstrating against the country’s military coup on 1 February, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group.
Some 141 people died on Saturday alone – the bloodiest day of the protests yet as heavy clashes erupted in the South Dagon district of Yangon.
Heavy clashes erupted during demonstrations in Yangon
Anti-coup protesters take positions behind their makeshift barricade in a protest in Yangon
Around eight of 14 civilians killed on Monday were in Yangon, where witnesses said security forces fired a heavier calibre weapon than usual towards protesters crouching behind a makeshift barricade of sandbags.
State television claimed security forces used “riot weapons” to disperse the crowd of “violent terrorist people” who were destroying a pavement and one man was wounded.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Myanmar’s generals to stop the killings and repression of demonstrations.
Protesters have stepped up the civil disobedience campaign by asking Yangon residents to leave rubbish at main road intersections.
“This garbage strike is a strike to oppose the junta,” read a poster on social media. “Everyone can join.”
Pictures shared on social media showed piles of rubbish piling up on the city’s roads.
The campaign comes after residents were urged to dispose of rubbish properly in some neighbourhoods on Monday.
It comes as three groups – the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army (AA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army – called in a joint statement for the military to stop killing protesters and resolve political issues.
People carry the coffin of a man who was killed during a clash with Myanmar’s security forces
If not, they said they would cooperate with all ethnic groups “who are joining Myanmar’s spring revolution” to defend themselves.
“This kind of brutal killing of innocent civilians is unacceptable,” AA spokesman Khine Thu Kha said.
Meanwhile, violent clashes erupted over the weekend near the Thai border between the army and fighters from Myanmar’s oldest ethnic minority force, the Karen National Union (KNU), which has also denounced the coup.
