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Myanmar Deploys Military Tanks Amid Anti-coup Protests

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Myanmar’s military junta deployed troops and tanks in Yangon on Monday, as protests against the Feb. 1 military coup continued in the country’s largest city, eyewitnesses said.

Demonstrations have now entered the second week, with La Min, a Yangon-based freelance photographer, saying it was the first time that soldiers and military tanks were deployed near the protest sites.

Even though the Myanmar authorities have escalated their crackdown and arrested a number of demonstrators, protesters have again taken to the streets in different parts of the country to continue their resentments against the coup.

In Yangon, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the country’s central bank building in the Yankin neighborhood on Monday, urging workers to join the civil disobedience campaign launched by health workers.

“After private banks, protesters have started targeting the central bank. Soldiers and military tanks have been deployed near the protest site,” said La Min, who was covering the protests near the central bank building.

On late Sunday, police fired warning shots and used water cannons against the demonstrators, refusing to disperse in Myitkyina, the capital of northern Kachin state. Several people, including five local journalists, were reportedly detained during the crackdown.

Also, internet services have been suspended across the country on Monday.

Aye Nyein Phyu, a staff member of a private telecommunication company, told Anadolu Agency: “The military junta is seeking the legitimacy of its unconstitutional and unlawful takeover. The brutal crackdown on us will never be recognized by the international community.”

Speaking to news Agency, protesters shared their concern that the junta would use intimidation tactics to prevent people from protesting the coup.

The military already had a lion’s share in Myanmar’s constitution, said Myo Min, a 22-year-old student at Yangon Medical University. The revocation of the constitution and the ouster of a duly elected government is “the stupidest thing I have ever seen,” he said.

“So, it is up to them whether or not to shoot us or kill us, but we have to continue our protests because we cannot let them take us back to the Dark Age,” he said.

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