YANGON/BANGKOK -- On Feb. 1, Myanmar's military detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.
The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November. But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud.
For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.
Read our in-depth coverage:
-- Myanmar's ethnic rebels isolate junta ahead of Armed Forces Day
-- Myanmar death toll tops 120 as Chinese factories are torched
-- Myanmar junta wields unappealable death penalty to quell protests
-- Myanmar junta targets banks in push against 'foreign interference'
-- China treads lightly on Myanmar coup with billions at stake
-- Myanmar's infantry tied to protester deaths: Five things to know
-- Who is Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing? 5 things to know
-- Myanmar: Inside the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's government
Follow the latest developments here (Yangon time):
Wednesday, March 24
2:00 p.m. A court hearing for ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been postponed until April 1, an aide to her lawyer says, marking the second postponement of her case. Suu Kyi was arrested on Feb. 1 on charges that include illegally importing six handheld radios and breaching coronavirus protocols. In two recent televised news conferences, the military has also accused her of bribery.
1:30 p.m. AP journalist Thein Zaw tells his family he is being released after he was arrested while photographing protests last month.
12:00 p.m. Hundreds of prisoners who had been arrested for protesting the coup are freed from a prison in Yangon, witnesses and domestic media say. Several buses full of detainees drove out of Insein prison in the morning, said the witnesses, including some lawyers for those arrested. "All the released are the ones arrested due to the protests, as well as night arrests, or those who were out to buy something," said a member of a legal advisory group who said he saw the buses leaving.
Many shops are closed at a local market in Yangon on March 24.
9:00 a.m. Activists plan more anti-coup protests on Wednesday, including a "silent strike," with many businesses due to close and calls for people to stay home. Social media posts and media hint that a range of businesses, from ride hailers to pharmacies plan to close. In what has often become a deadly game of cat and mouse with security forces during street protests, pro-democracy activists have switched tactics.
Tuesday, March 23
11:50 p.m. Some scenes from a candlelight vigil on Tuesday organized by Myanmar expatriates living in New Delhi.
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© Reuters
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10:20 p.m. A 7-year-old girl has been shot and killed in Mandalay, Reuters reports, citing people working for a funeral service. According to the report, witnesses say the girl was shot in her home when security forces opened fire in the area.
This follows the reported shooting death of a 14-year-old boy on Monday. More than 20 children have been killed in security forces' crackdown since the Feb. 1 coup, according to charity organization Save the Children.
9:20 p.m. A fire at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh has killed at least 15 people and left more than 560 injured and an estimated 400 people missing, the United Nations Refugee Agency says.
The fire broke out yesterday at the Kutupalong Balukali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, according to UNHCR.
"At least 10,000 shelters are estimated to have been destroyed or damaged, but figures are expected to climb in the coming days as assessments continue," according to the agency. "Refugees who have been displaced are being temporarily accommodated within the camp community."
3:30 p.m. Myanmar's military rulers have no immediate plans to lift restrictions on the internet because violence in the country is being provoked online, a junta spokesman says. Most important to the country is the rule of law and stability, so the internet will be restricted for "a certain time period," spokesman Zaw Min Tun tells a news conference.
He says the military respected the media and although reporting of protests was allowed, leading them was a crime.
Zaw Min Tun accuses protesters for violence and arson, saying nine members of the security forces had been killed.
3:00 p.m. Myanmar activists in Japan call on the Japanese government and the international community to take stronger steps "to stop the killing" in their homeland.
Kyaw Kyaw Soe, a member of the board of directors of the Union of Myanmar Citizens Association in Japan, urged Tokyo to use its clout to speak directly with the generals. "I think the Japanese government has some kind of power -- diplomatic and economic and also political. I think the Japanese government should directly talk to the military leaders," he told a news conference in Tokyo.
10:00 a.m. Hundreds of people held a candlelight vigil in the Ahlone district of Yangon on Monday night, photos posted on social media showed. Three people were killed in Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, in unrest that day, including a 15-year-old boy, witnesses and news reports said. Security forces staged more raids in parts of Yangon on Monday night with shots fired and some people wounded, the Mizzima news service reported.
In Hsipaw, Shan State, the names of protesters who have been killed have been written on cards and placed next to lighted candles, DVB TV News reports. Elsewhere, helium-filled balloons were released on Monday bearing messages calling for international help. Street protesters were replaced by toy cars or dolls, some led by cardboard cutouts or manikins dressed in clothes.
At least 261 people have been killed so far by security forces across the country, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.
2:30 a.m. Human rights group Global Witness calls the EU sanctions "a disappointingly weak and belated response to the February 1 coup."
"The EU needs to target the economic interests of the military by imposing sanctions on all the companies that generate revenue for and provide support to the military," says Paul Donowitz, Myanmar campaign leader at Global Witness, in a statement.
This includes the military-linked companies Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Co. Ltd. (MEHL), Donowitz said.
Monday, March 22
10:00 p.m. More Myanmar authorities and organizations have been added to the U.S. Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals lets, which lets Washington free their assets and block American people and companies from dealing with them.
They include the chief of the Myanmar police force, Than Hlaing, who also services as deputy minister for home affairs.
The 33rd and 77th light infantry divisions of the Myanmar army are also added to the list. The 33rd light infantry division was reportedly involved in attacks on protesters in Mandalay last month, according to Tom Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar.
8:30 p.m. European Union foreign ministers have adopted travel bans and asset freezes on people they hold responsible for the Myanmar coup, marking the EU's strongest action to date in response to the ouster of the country's elected government.
Of the 11 people sanctioned, 10 are top military brass, including armed forces Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Soe Win.
"The travel ban impedes those listed from entering or transiting through EU territory, while the asset freeze covers the funds or economic resources in the EU of the listed persons," according to a European Council statement. "In addition, EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to the listed individuals and entities."
Monday's EU actions did not include changes to trade preferences that help Myanmar's garment industry, an important source of jobs and foreign currency. Critics say such a move would hurt ordinary working people.
"The EU will continue to review all of its policy options, including additional restrictive measures against economic entities owned or controlled by the military," the statement says. "At the same time, the EU aims to ensure that its measures do not have an adverse effect on the general population."
One notable objector to Monday's sanctions is Hungary. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto calls the penalties, along separate ones on Chinese officials, "harmful" and "pointless."
A protester makes the three-finger salute in Yangon as drivers sound their horns as a sign of resistance.
3:30 p.m. The European Union will on Monday impose sanctions on 11 individuals linked to the coup, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"On ... Myanmar we are going to take sanctions against 11 persons involved in the coup and the repression of the demonstrators," Borrell said, adding the situation in the country was deteriorating. The names of the individuals are expected to be made public once the sanctions are formally decided by ministers.
11:30 a.m. Drivers in Yangon sounded their horns on major roads as protest against the coup. Meanwhile, large protests were less visible in central Yangon as the military stepped up its crackdown.
9:30 a.m. To mark the one-month anniversary of one of the biggest demonstrations since the coup and a national strike on Feb. 22, activists on social media urged people to join a car convoy protest on Monday. They want vehicles to drive through intersections honking horns while occupants display three-finger anti-coup salutes. The surging violence has forced many people to think up novel ways to express their rejection of army rule.
6:00 a.m. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit Brunei on Monday, after which he will travel to Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei is currently the ASEAN chair. The reason for the visit has not been disclosed, but last week Indonesian President Joko Widodo called on ASEAN leaders to hold a high-level meeting to try and solve the escalating crisis in Myanmar.
Sunday, March 21
11:00 p.m. One person reportedly was shot dead and several wounded when police opened fire on a group installing a barricade in the central town of Monywa. A doctor there said a community group issued a call on Facebook for blood donors. Later, one person was killed and several wounded when security forces fired on a crowd in Mandalay, the Myanmar Now news website reported. At least 249 people have been killed since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.
Saturday, March 20
1:05 a.m. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "strongly condemns the continuing brutal violence by the military in Myanmar," according to a statement by his spokesperson.
"The military continues to defy calls, including by the Security Council, to end violations of fundamental human rights and return to the path of democracy," the statement says "A firm, unified international response is urgently needed."
12:31 a.m. The U.S. House of Representatives approves legislation that condemns the coup in Myanmar and the detention of civilian leaders by a 398-14 vote.
The bill calls for the released of detainees and the return of poser to the elected government.
All 14 who voted against the resolution were Republicans, and one GOP representative voted "present."
Friday, March 19
10:25 p.m. The United Nations acting resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, Andrew Kirkwood, gives a grim account of the situation on the ground.
- At least 2,400 people have been arrested by the security forces in connection with the anti-coup demonstrations, Kirkwood says in an online briefing, adding that "vast majority of these people are held incommunicado still and we're hearing increasing reports of sexual based violence against detainees."
- The death toll since the Feb. 1 coup stands at 211, "and possibly many more" have been killed, according to Kirkwood. "And I think it's really important to emphasize that many of these people have been killed through gunshots to the head by snipers for peaceful demonstrations."
- About two million people in Yangon live in areas under martial law "where military commanders now have complete judicial authority," Kirkwood says. Tens of thousands of people have fled these industrial suburbs, he adds.
- "We're also very worried about an impending health and humanitarian crisis," Kirkwood says. "The public health system has practically collapsed." A banking crisis has added to the disruption of supply chains, he says.
9:50 p.m. In case you missed Nikkei Asia's webinar "Myanmar's coup: How should the world react?" this week, watch it here.
8:45 p.m. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin "strongly" urges Myanmar's military "to change its course and choose a path toward peaceful solutions."
"We in Malaysia, and the larger ASEAN community, cannot afford to see our brotherly nation of Myanmar become so destabilized at the hands of a selected few, who seek to promote their own vested interests," the prime minister says in a statement.
Muhyiddin says he backs Indonesian President Joko Widodo's call for an emergency ASEAN summit on the crisis in Myanmar.
"It is clear that the current political struggle only victimizes the common people of Myanmar," the prime minister says. "This has no place in the values of our beliefs, conscience and culture.
"It contradicts the the principles enshrined in the Asian Charter," he adds.
Muhyiddin had been the target of criticism from human rights groups last month after Malaysia deported more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals back to their homeland despite growing unrest in the country. The deportations defied a Kuala Lumpur High Court order to halt them.
8:00 p.m. A reporter for the BBC Burmese service has been detained in Myanmar, the BBC reports.
Aung Thura "was taken away by men in plainclothes while reporting outside a court" in Naypyitaw, according to the report, which adds that Than Htike Aung, a reporter for local news organization Mizzima, was detained at the same time.
6:25 p.m. Ambassadors from a lengthy list of Western countries have issued a statement calling the junta's violence against unarmed civilians "immoral and indefensible."
"Internet blackouts and the suppression of the media will not hide the military's abhorrent actions," reads the statement from several European Union members along with the U.K. and U.S.
5:00 p.m. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi says in parliament that the government will not be sending anyone, including military attaches, to Myanmar's Armed Forces Day ceremony scheduled for March 27.
4:00 p.m. Thailand's army chief rebuts reports that a refugee camp has been set up along the border with Myanmar for those fleeing the crackdown there. He says the temporary facility in question is there for humanitarian reasons and will be used to screen people entering the country.
Tense neighborhood: Thai border guards patrol at the Myanmar border in Mae Sot.
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2:10 p.m. Security forces open fire during a confrontation with opponents of the Feb. 1 military coup in the central town of Aungban, killing eight people, the Myanmar Now news portal said. Seven people were killed in the town and one wounded person died after being taken to hospital in the nearby town of Kalaw, the portal said, citing Aungban's funerary service.
12:00 p.m. Indonesian President Joko Widodo calls for democracy to be restored and violence to end in Myanmar, and for Southeast Asian leaders to hold a high-level meeting to discuss the situation there. "I will immediately call the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, as head of ASEAN, to as soon as possible hold a high-level ASEAN meeting to discuss the crisis in Myanmar," Widodo said in an online address.
10:00 a.m. The business sector in Myanmar is struggling to make payments. Commercial transactions and wage payments are being disrupted because many bankers are refusing to come to work in protest of the coup.
9:00 a.m. National League for Democracy spokesman Kyi Toe was arrested Thursday night for unknown reasons, according to the party.
Riot police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against the coup in Yangon on March 19.
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3:20 a.m. The Irrawaddy's English edition reports that police and soldiers fired live rounds at the maternity ward of a Yangon hospital Thursday night. No injuries were reported.
2:00 a.m. Internet access in Myanmar has been restricted for another night, reports NetBlocks, the self-described "Internet's observatory."
Thursday, March 18
10:00 p.m. The international community faces a delicate balancing act in responding to Myanmar's worst crisis in decades -- and dwindling time to get it right -- experts say in a webinar organized by Nikkei Asia.
"Blanket sanctions do not work," says Thiri Thant Mon, managing partner of Pegu Partners, a capital and strategy advisory firm in Yangon.
"Just turning off all the taps and squeezing the country out of its ability to have a living is not helping ... and is not going to hurt the people that the outside world wants to hurt."
Read more about the webinar highlights here.
5:00 p.m. A mobile internet blackout continues throughout the country, making it difficult for protesters to gather. Public Wi-Fi has also been out of service since the morning.
4:00 p.m. The crackdown intensifies in Tamwe Township, Yangon. Witnesses say police have ordered one person from each household to participate in removing barricades on the streets. At least 30 residents and protesters were also arrested.
12:30 p.m. Several thousand people marched in the small town of Natmauk, the Democratic Voice of Burma reports. The central town is the birthplace of Aung San, the leader of Myanmar's drive for independence from colonial power Britain and Suu Kyi's father. There were no reports of violence.
10:00 a.m. According to witnesses, police and the army are stopping pedestrians and drivers on the streets, ordering them to dismantle barricades set up by protesters in Yangon. A state newspaper reports, on the other hand, that residents doing so voluntarily.
9:00 a.m. The number of demonstrations overnight is dwindling as the crackdown has intensified over the past few days.
2:15 a.m. A United Nations-backed team of investigators urges people in Myanmar who receive orders to commit acts against international law to come forward with evidence that can be use to prosecute leaders.
"The persons most responsible for the most serious international crimes are usually those in high leadership positions," says Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, in a statement.
"They are not the ones who physically perpetrate the crimes and often are not even present at the locations where the crimes are committed," says Koumjian, who handled cases including senior Khmer Rouge leaders. "To prove their responsibility requires evidence of reports received, orders given and how policies were set."
The investigators urge whistleblowers who provide evidence "do so safely and with an abundance of caution," according to the statement.
The independent team says it "collecting evidence regarding arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances and the use of force, including lethal force, against those peacefully opposing the coup."
1:00 a.m. Five privately run newspapers in Myanmar are now out of print, the result of a combination of tighter government controls on the flow of information and concerns about the safety of delivery workers.
They include The Standard Time Daily, which halted publication on Tuesday, saying it would resume once transportation conditions improved. Its decision comes after martial law was imposed in some areas of Yangon.
These newspapers, which also include 7Day News and The Myanmar Times, became a symbol of the country's experiment with democracy in the decade before the Feb. 1 coup.
Protesters run as security forces move against them in Hlaing Township in Yangon on March 17.
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Wednesday, March 17
11:25 p.m. Security forces in Myanmar have recently opened fire on crowds using semiautomatic and automatic rifles, United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet tells CNN, describing how methods have changed in the crackdown on anti-coup protests.
Such shootings follow earlier sniper-style attacks, Bachelet says.
The former president of Chile also describes nighttime raids in parts of Yangon, citing sources kept anonymous for their safety.
Security forces are "going now into the outskirts of Yangon, where there are industrial neighborhoods where the workers" live, she says, adding that support for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is strong in these areas.
8:30 p.m. Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, operator of the Peninsula hotel brand, is reassessing its project in Yangon as the aftermath of the military coup and continuing bloodshed that has thrown Myanmar into turmoil.
The Hong Kong-listed luxury hotel chain says Wednesday it has "noted the recent violence and chaos with great concern, and we continue to evaluate both the immediate actions required and the longer-term decisions that need to be made in respect of this project."
4:30 p.m. Myanmar's military government is increasing pressure on private banks to reopen by threatening the forced transfer of private deposit accounts to military-controlled banks, Nikkei Asia has learned.
4:00 p.m. China's Global Times says sources within Chinese state enterprises with operations in Myanmar say they have not received orders to evacuate, in what it says was a denial of reports that China had ordered non-essential staff to pull out.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said China has asked state firms to evacuate non-essential staff from Myanmar after dozens of Chinese-run factories were attacked on the weekend, citing sources within those companies.
3:50 p.m. Pope Francis has appealed for an end to bloodshed in Myanmar, saying "Even I kneel on the streets of Myanmar and say 'stop the violence.'" Speaking at the end of his general audience, Francis says those who have died there have sacrificed "to offer hope to their country."
2:10 p.m. Myanmar should take "more concrete and more vigorous" measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and companies there, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian says during a daily news briefing on Wednesday.
1:30 p.m. While many multinational companies have begun to publicly express their opposition to the military coup and subsequent violence in Myanmar, Chinese companies -- Myanmar's largest investors -- have stayed silent. A Yangon-based rights group has called for companies to sign a joint statement of concern about the coup, but Chinese companies are conspicuously absent.
10:30 a.m. The State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee (Mahana) -- the most powerful group of Buddhist monks -- called on the junta to end violence against protesters, according to media reports. In its most forthright condemnation, the government-appointed body also said in a draft statement its members intended to halt activities in an apparent protest. Mahana planned to release a final statement after consulting the religious affairs minister on Thursday, Myanmar Now news website reported.
4:00 a.m. A foundation linked to billionaire philanthropist George Soros calls on the authorities in Myanmar to release a staff member detained there.
"We call for her immediate release. We are alarmed by reports that authorities are seeking to interrogate other staff members," the Open Society Foundations says.
Myanmar authorities suspect that the staff member, along with 11 other employees it is seeking, transferred funds to coup opponents.
"Claims of financial misconduct, including that OSM [Open Society Myanmar] acted illegally by withdrawing their own funds in local currency from the SMID bank, are false," the OSF says.
1:30 a.m. The Myanmar military will try criminal cases in areas of the nation's largest city under martial law, with sentences up to death or "unlimited years" in prison at hard labor, a state-owned newspaper reports.
The junta fleshes out martial law orders imposed this week on six townships in Yangon The senior military commander in charge of the city has been handed full administrative and judicial powers.
Twenty-three criminal offenses will be tried before military tribunals. These include "high treason," sedition, violating media laws and spreading news the military deems "false." Read more.
12:30 a.m. European Union members will finalize sanctions targeting Myanmar coup leaders' business interests next Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says, according to a Reuters report.
The actions "will suspend all budgetary support, and also there will be measures directly targeting those responsible for the military coup d'etat and hitting the individuals and their own economic interests," Le Drian is reported as telling a French Senate hearing.
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To catch up on earlier developments, see the last edition of latest updates.
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2021-03-24 08:25:00Z
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