As armored vehicles are being deployed in Myanmar’s major cities and workers are striking, U.S. citizens living in the Southeast Asia nation have been told to “shelter in place.”
Train service in some places has stopped, and power plant workers are trying to make sure the electricity stays on, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing local media. Armored vehicles have reportedly appeared in the cities of Yangon, Myitkyina, and Sittwe, in the military’s first large-scale rollout of such vehicles since the Feb. 1 coup.
The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar warned U.S. citizens on Sunday that they should avoid going outside.
“There are indications of military movements in Yangon and the possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. U.S. citizens in Burma are advised to shelter-in-place during the 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. curfew hours,” the office said on Twitter.
There are indications of military movements in Yangon and the possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. U.S. citizens in Burma are advised to shelter-in-place during the 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. curfew hours.
— American Citizen Services – Burma (Myanmar) (@ACSRangoon) February 14, 2021
Security forces were reportedly deployed to a power plant on Sunday and clashed with demonstrators, some of whom believed the government would cut off power, according to Reuters. The military allegedly opened fire on protesters, and it is unclear how many people were harmed.
Arrests in the nation are primarily being carried out overnight. The United Nations human rights office in Yangon reported on Friday that more than 350 people have been arrested in the days since the coup began.
At the start of February, Myanmar’s armed forces arrested civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, as they announced a yearlong state of emergency. The army said it was forced to act because of allegations of fraud surrounding its election, claims that were dismissed by the country’s electoral commission.
Richard Horsey, a Myanmar-based analyst with the International Crisis Group, told Reuters that many government agencies in the country have simply ceased functioning.
“This has the potential to also affect vital functions — the military can replace engineers and doctors, but not power grid controllers and central bankers,” he said.
President Biden announced fresh sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders last week.
“The military must relinquish power it seized and demonstrate respect for the will of the people of Burma as expressed in their Nov. 8 election,” Biden said in an address at the White House, adding that the coup was “an issue of deep bipartisan concern.”
