Myanmar govt staff halt work; military grapples to curb strike
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Naypyitaw, February 14
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar for the ninth day of the anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, as the new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers that could cripple their ability to run the country.
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Unrest escalates
- Train services in several parts halt as staff refuse to work in defiance of military orders
- Soldiers deployed to power plants face confrontation as people believe power supply will be cut for night arrests
- The civil disobedience movement started with doctors, but now affects a swathe of government departments.
Trains in parts of the country stopped running after staff refused to go to work, local media reported, while the military deployed soldiers to power plants only to be confronted by angry crowds. A civil disobedience movement to protest against the February 1 coup that deposed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi started with doctors. It now affects a swathe of government departments.
The junta ordered civil servants to go back to work on Saturday, threatening action. But hundreds of railway workers joined demonstrations in Yangon on Sunday, even as police went to their housing compound on the outskirts of the city to order them back to work.
Cops were forced to leave after angry crowds gathered, according to a live broadcast by Myanmar Now. Soldiers were deployed to power plants in the northern Kachin state, leading to a confrontation with protesters who said they believed they intended to cut off the electricity to carry out nightly arrests. The government and army could not be reached for comment.— Reuters
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