A violent police raid designed to arrest doctors at the Sao San Tun People’s Hospital in Taunggyi Shan State, was foiled by staff who sounded the alarm with a loud banging of pots and pans –a regular feature of anti-coup protest in Myanmar.

A member of staff and eyewitness observed,” Nearly 100 police members surrounded the hospital. The police fired slingshots, after the staff banged pots and pans. They destroyed the doors of the staff quarters in their search for the doctors. Then the police threw Seinyaunggyi grenades produced by the Defence Industries (KaPaSa) as the staff barred the police from entering into the compound. The police threw around five grenades. Some grenades did not explode. No one was injured, “a member of staff confirmed.

This drama occurred on February15th In spite of nearly 100 police that surrounded the hospital, all the doctors belonging to the Civil Disobedience Movement made good their escape. Locals rushed the hospitals to protect the doctors. Although the escaped doctors have joined the nationwide CDM strike, they were still attending to emergency patients including such cases as kidney transplant cases.

The Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement had earlier reported that doctors at over 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns had joined the protest. It accused the army of putting its interests above people’s hardships during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We refuse to obey any order from the illegitimate military regime, who demonstrated they do not have any regard for our poor patients,” said the CDM statement. "We will only follow and obey the orders from our democratically elected government."

 The RFA reported that in Mandalay, police, armed soldiers, and local authorities tried to arrest Dr. Khin Maung Lwin, rector of the Institute of Medicine, after midnight, but they had to turn back when residents drove them away, a source close to the family said, and the rector managed to escape.