19th March, 2021 #day47

 The atrocities do not stop rather expending. DVB TV reports that at least nine people were killed and twenty injured today in Aungban, Shan State. Eyewitnesses said that live rounds were fired continuously into the protests and there were no tear gas nor advanced warning. In some townships in Yangon, soldiers forced residents to remove barricades, shoot into residential areas, and destroyed properties. A video of police beating a man who could not carry a sandbag from barricades and making him crawl on the street has been circulating on social media.

The junta has arrested BBC Burmese correspondent Ko Thura and Mizzima correspondent Than Htike Aung in Naypyidaw today. Ko Thura is believed to have been arrested for his questions at a military council press conference on March 11. He asked about the deadly crackdown and the R2P issue. A spokesman for the military council said that the number of protesters nationwide were not many and would be only 10 or 15 percent of the population, and that the military may have been outraged when he asked what percentage of the protests the military would accept and take seriously.

Myanmar social media users are also talking about the screenshots of email exchange between a instructor at York University in Canada and a Myanmar student studying online from Myanmar. The student asked for the test to be deferred due to internet shutdown during the coup, but the teacher did not allow it. His school later issued statement saying they have taken action against him for the act. Since Covid pandemic, there have been hundreds of students from Myanmar studying online in international schools, but now the coup has made it difficult for them to continue their education.

US President Joe Biden has convened a special meeting to take action on five countries, including Myanmar. The United States is the rotational chair of the UN Security Council for this month, it will likely to propose another meeting to discuss the Myanmar’s crisis. The UNSC once held closed-door meeting at Britain's request. The news that the Quad or The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) and France will hold naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal from April 4 to 7 is also popular among the Myanmar people. Some say this exercise can definitely cause a real threat for the Myanmar junta and argue that it could be a preparation for an attack on Myanmar at some point, but some argue the exercise will not affect Myanmar directly as it only seeks to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged Asean leaders to convene an emergency ASEAN summit to find a solution for the Myanmar issue. Indonesia has a similar history to Myanmar, where the military heavily involved in politics and became a democracy through a popular revolution. Malaysia has responded to Indonesia's request. Eight Myanmar-based international commerces have issued a joint statement condemning the violence against peaceful protesters. These groups previously have stated that they will not attend any junta-organized meetings. Western ambassadors to Myanmar have issued a joint statement calling on the military council to stop committing atrocities against unarmed civilians, including Hlaing Tharyar, and claim the action of the military as “immoral and indefensible.”