Opponents of Myanmar’s military coup called for more big protests on Wednesday to show that the army’s claim of widespread public support for overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and holding new elections was false.
They voiced scepticism at the junta’s promise at a news conference on Tuesday that there would be a fair election and it would hand over power, even as police filed an additional charge against Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace laureate, detained since the Feb 1 coup, now faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as charges of illegally importing six walkie talkie radios.
At a hearing by video conference on Tuesday, her next hearing was set for March 1.
Kyi Toe, a senior member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party who has not yet been arrested, said “let’s march en masse. Let’s show our force against the coup government that has destroyed the future of youth, the future of our country.”
The coup that cut short the Southeast Asian country’s unsteady transition towards democracy has prompted daily demonstrations since Feb. 6, some drawing hundreds of thousands of people.
The army takeover has also drawn strong Western criticism, with renewed anger from Washington and London over the additional charge for Suu Kyi. Although China has taken a softer line, its ambassador in Myanmar on Tuesday dismissed accusations it supported the coup.
Hundreds of people have been rounded up by the army since the coup, many of them in night-time raids. Those arrested include much of the NLD’s senior leadership.
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