Security forces killed at least nine opponents of Mynamar’s military junta on Friday, a funeral service and media said, as southeast Asian countries urged an end to the violence and western ambassadors condemned what they called the army’s “immoral, indefensible” actions.
Stepping up the international pressure on the generals, Indonesian President Joko Widodo called for an end to the bloodshed.
In some of the strongest comments yet by a regional leader on the crackdown, Jokowi, as the president he is known, said he would ask Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to call an urgent meeting.
“Indonesia urges that the use of violence in Myanmar be stopped immediately so that there are no more victims,” Jokowi said in a virtual address.
“The safety and welfare of the people must be the top priority. Indonesia also urges dialogue, that reconciliation is carried out immediately to restore democracy, to restore peace and to restore stability in Myanmar.”
Brunei's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Backing Indonesia’s call for a meeting, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said he was appalled by the persistent use of lethal violence against unarmed civilians in Myanmar.
“The military leadership in Myanmar is strongly urged to change its course, and choose a path towards peaceful solutions,” Muhyiddin said in a statement.
Philippine foreign minister Teodoro Locsin said on Twitter that Asean “has to act. Because passivity is complicity; and silence gives consent”.
Authorities have tightened restricted on Internet services, making information increasingly difficult to verify, and also clamped down on private media.
Authorities have tightened restrictions on Internet services and also clamped down on private media.
The UN human rights office said this week about 37 journalists had been arrested so far. Two more were detained in the capital, Naypyitaw, on Friday while covering a hearing for an arrested member of Suu Kyi’s party, said the Mizzima news portal, the former employer of one of them, Than Htike Aung.
The other detained reporter was Aung Thura of the British Broadcasting Corp.
Security forces opened fire in the central town of Aungban as they tried to clear a protesters’ barricade, media and a witness reported.
“Security forces came to remove barriers but the people resisted and they fired,” the witness, who declined to be identified, said by telephone.
An official with Aungban’s funerary service told Reuters eight people were killed, seven on the spot and one wounded person who died after being taken to hospital. One protester was killed in the northeastern town of Loikaw and another was killed in Yangon.
