NO LET-UP IN MYANMAR PROTESTS DESPITE CRACKDOWN

Saturday, May 1, marked three months since a military coup in Myanmar that ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. People who call for democracy continued their protests against the coup in various forms including a so-called civil disobedience movement to boycott work, Kyodo News reported.

While demonstrations were losing momentum in mid-April as the junta has enforced its reign of terror and killed over 750 peaceful protesters and others, people returned to the streets for flash protests recently and rallies took place on Saturday in several cities, according to local media.

But many people are struggling for survival in the crisis-hit country amid no sign from the junta to stop using force, despite leaders of ASEAN countries making a statement on Myanmar a week ago that called for an immediate end to violence. Since the coup, many sectors of society stopped functioning as people joined the civil disobedience movement.

Maung Thein, a 50-year-old local guide in Taunggyi, eastern Shan State, said the coup affected everyone in Myanmar.

"The situation is getting worse now. It is going downwards and poor people are suffering the worst," he said.

As of Friday, 759 have been killed by the junta, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group monitoring the situation in Myanmar. The military's deadly response to protesters has drawn condemnation from the international community but sanctions on the junta imposed by the United States and other Western powers have brought no visible effect on helping to improve the situation.

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