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Tear gas and stun grenades used by security forces to break up a protest in Myanmar

<p>Protesters react as they are engulfed by tear gas fired in Yangon </p> (AFP)

Protesters react as they are engulfed by tear gas fired in Yangon

(AFP)

Myanmar security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to break up a protest in Yangon today.

The move came just hours after a United Nations special envoy called on the Security Council to take action against the ruling junta for the killings of protesters.

The Southeast Asian country has been plunged in turmoil since the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, with daily protests and strikes that have choked business and paralysed administration.

Sporadic protests were staged across Myanmar on Saturday and local media reported that police fired tear gas shells and stun grenades to break up a protest in the Sanchaung district of Yangon, the country’s biggest city. There were no reports of casualties.

More than 50 protesters have been killed since the coup, according to the United Nations - at least 38 on Wednesday alone.

Saturday saw another day of action and violence in MyanmarAP
Saturday saw another day of action and violence in MyanmarAP

Boris Johnson said yesterday he is “horrified by the escalation of violence” in the region.

Protesters demand the army the release of Suu Kyi and to respect of November’s election, which her party won in landslide, but they have refused.

“How much more can we allow the Myanmar military to get away with?” Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener told a closed meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Friday, according to a copy of her remarks reviewed by Reuters.

“It is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of Myanmar firmly, in support of the clear November election results.”

A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.

The army says it has been restrained in stopping the protests, but has said it will not allow them to threaten stability.

Several hundred people gathered in Sydney on Saturday to protest against the coup, singing and holding up three fingers, a salute that has come to symbolise solidarity and resistance across Myanmar.

Protesters with helmet and wet cloths ready to put off tear gas gather during a demonstration in YangonAP
Protesters with helmet and wet cloths ready to put off tear gas gather during a demonstration in YangonAP

“We would like to urge the Australian government to work closely with the U.S., UK and EU governments and take strong action against these Myanmar military dictators,” said protest organiser Thein Moe Win.

In Myanmar’s southern town of Dawei, protesters chanted “Democracy is our cause” and “The revolution must prevail”.

People have taken to Myanmar’s streets in their hundreds of thousands at times, vowing to continue action in a country that spent nearly half a century under military rule until democratic reforms in 2011 that were cut short by the coup.

“Political hope has begun to shine. We can’t lose the momentum of the revolution,” one protest leader, Ei Thinzar Maung, wrote on Facebook. “Those who dare to fight will have victory. We deserve victory.”

It comes after, on Friday night, authorities reportedly disturbed the grave of a 19-year-old woman who became an icon of the protest movement after she was shot dead wearing a T-shirt that read “Everything will be OK.”

One witness said the body of Kyal Sin, widely known as Angel, was removed on Friday, examined and returned, before the tomb was re-sealed in Myanmar’s second city of Mandalay. The independent Mizzima news service also reported the event.

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