Blasts and protests as Myanmar enters fourth month under junta

This handout photo taken and released by Dawei Watch yesterday shows protesters taking part in a demonstration against the military coup in Dawei.

Explosions rocked Myanmar’s largest city Yangon yesterday as protesters held flash marches for democracy, defying a brutal junta that has held onto power for three bloody months. The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, bringing an abrupt end to Myanmar’s short-lived experiment with democracy. The power grab triggered a massive uprising which authorities have tried to quell with lethal force and live ammunition. As Myanmar entered its fourth month under military rule yesterday, protesters in commercial hub Yangon – an epicentre of unrest with a heavy security presence – staged flash demonstrations, marching rapidly through the streets to avoid confrontation with police and soldiers. The lightning-quick pace of the protests is “so that people will have time to disappear when the security forces come, or else they would die or get arrested”, said student activist Min Han Htet. In Yangon’s Insein township, a bomb blast went off around 10 am near a local school, said a resident staying nearby.