MYANMAR PROTESTS INTENSIFY AS MORE ARE KILLED BY JUNTA

Myanmar activists plan fresh protests on Monday, March 22, 2021, including a call for vehicle convoys to drive through intersections honking horns with occupants raising three-finger anti-coup salutes despite reports of security forces killing more people at the weekend, Reuters reported.

Media reported dawn protests in at least two parts of the commercial hub of Yangon on Monday after hundreds of people in Mandalay, including many medical staff in white coats, marched before sunrise on Sunday.

One man was shot dead and several were wounded when police opened fire on a group setting up a barricade in the central town of Monywa, a doctor there said on Sunday as a community group issued a call on Facebook for blood donors.

Later, one person was killed and another wounded in the country’s second city of Mandalay when security forces opened fire after residents tried to resist efforts by the military to set up a base in a school, the Myanmar Now news portal reported. At least 250 people have now been killed since the coup, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.

As a sign of a new diplomatic push in Southeast Asia, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit Brunei Darussalam on Monday before going to Malaysia and Indonesia.

The trip comes as Indonesia and Malaysia seek an urgent high-level meeting of Southeast Asia’s regional grouping, of which Myanmar is a member, on the crisis. Brunei is currently chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on March 2 failed to make a breakthrough.

Australian media reported that two Australian business consultants were detained as they tried to leave Myanmar, but it was not clear why. An Australian foreign ministry spokesperson said it was providing consular assistance but declined to comment further for privacy reasons.

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