Security forces used the excessive forces to make a crackdown on anti-coup protestors in Myitkyina Township in Kachin State on February 18th, with the arrest of a monk and two protestors.

 

Soldiers and police members aimed their guns at the sit-in protestors. Security forces seized a vehicle from the protest column and song boxes.

 

A protestor said: “The soldiers and police members moved in on the protestors. Protestors move to other places to avoid the confrontation with security forces. The police fired slingshots toward the protestors and blocked the road. Then, the police arrested some protestors.”

 

A local from Myitkyina Township said: “Soldiers arrested a monk from Mandalay Monastery in Shansutaung ward in Myitkyina. They also took a vehicle.”

 

The anti-coup protests have erupted in Myitkyina Township since 8 to 18 February. Thousands of protestors including youths, civil servants and locals are staging the anti-coup protests, calling for the release of detained leaders, the inclusion of civil servants in the CDM and the abolishing of the 2008 Constitution.