‘Our revolution must win’

Myanmar security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to break up a protest in Yangon yesterday, a day after a United Nations envoy urged the Security Council to hear the nation's "desperate pleas" and take swift action to restore democracy. 

The country has been in turmoil since a February 1 putsch ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power, triggering a massive uprising from hundreds of thousands angered to be returned to military rule.

Security forces have escalated an increasingly brutal crackdown on demonstrators -- killing more than 50 people since the coup -- but protesters rallied again yesterday.

From the dusty roads of northern Lashio -- where young protesters stared down police behind homemade shields -- to central Loikaw city in view of Myanmar's eastern mountains, demonstrators continued to march for democracy.

"Our revolution must win," chanted protesters in Loikaw. Civil servants such as teachers in their green and white uniforms were among the protesters.

The country's vital sectors have been crippled by an ongoing "Civil Disobedience Movement" -- a campaign urging civil servants to boycott working under a military regime.

The impact has been felt at every level of the national infrastructure, with shuttered hospitals, empty ministry offices, and banks unable to operate.

Yesterday, state-run media announced that if civil servants continued to boycott work, "they will be fired" with immediate effect from March 8.

But protesters in Myanmar's commercial hub of Yangon continued to defy authorities, gathering especially in San Chaung -- a once-buzzing township with cafes, restaurants and bars that has emerged as a hotspot for unrest.

Security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades in the morning, scattering protesters, and removed their makeshift barricades with bulldozers.

Activist Maung Saungkha said the movement would persist -- even as security forces continued to step up their enforcement tactics -- as many remember the repression under the previous junta.

"In our past revolutions, we never won... this time we must fight to win," he told AFP.

"We must fight together with the younger generation to get victory."

Meanwhile, authorities in Myanmar have asked India to return several police officers who sought refuge to avoid taking orders from a military junta, an official in northeast India said yesterday.

A Reuters report said around 30 Myanmar police and their family members came across the border to India seeking refuge in recent days.

The senior-most official in Champhai, a district in the Indian state of Mizoram, told Reuters that she had received a letter from her counterpart in Myanmar's Falam district requesting the return of eight police "in order to uphold friendly relations."

Deputy Commissioner Maria CT Zuali said that she was "waiting for the direction" from the India's Ministry for Home Affairs in New Delhi.

The generals have shown no sign of heeding calls for restraint despite mounting international pressure, including targeted sanctions by Western powers.

The United Nations Security Council on Friday heard from UN special envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener, who warned against any moves to grant legitimacy to the junta.

"The hope they have placed in the United Nations and its membership is waning and I have heard directly the desperate pleas -- from mothers, students and the elderly," she said.

"Your unity is needed more than ever on Myanmar... The repression must stop."

But diplomats said the Security Council was unlikely to approve any international measures against the junta, and the session ended without any statement.

Condemnation against Myanmar's military has largely been unanimous, but veto-wielding China is still regarded as a key obstacle in getting consensus.

China's ambassador, Zhang Jun, said his country did not want to see instability in Myanmar.

The military has continued to justify its power seizure by alleging widespread electoral fraud in November's elections, which Suu Kyi's party had won in a landslide.

The Nobel laureate has not been publicly seen since she was detained on February 1.