Myanmar shadow Parliament urges unity against junta
Meanwhile, more anti-coup protesters continue to be killed by security officers
YANGON Security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon yesterday killing at least three, while there were two deaths in other parts of the country.
As Myanmar neared its seventh week since the Feb 1 coup, a group of Members of Parliament in hiding urge protesters to move with "invincibility" to overcome the nation's "darkest moment".
The MPs had formed a shadow "Parliament" called the Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) - the Burmese word for the country's governing bloc - to denounce the military regime.
"This is the darkest moment of the nation and the light before the dawn is close," said Mr Mahn Win Khaing Than in a recorded video posted on the CRPH's Facebook page on Saturday night.
"This is also a moment testing our citizens to see how far we can resist these darkest times," said the high-ranking National League for Democracy politician who served as Speaker of the House during Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's previous administration.
His address on Saturday would be his first appearance in his capacity as CRPH's acting vice-president, and he echoed the anti-coup movement's calls for a "federal democracy" - which would allow ethnic minority groups to have a role in Myanmar's governance.
"This uprising is also the chance for all of us to struggle together hand in hand to establish a federal democracy union which we - all ethnic brothers and sisters who have been suffering various kinds of oppression from military dictatorship - have long desired," he said.
"The federal democracy union... is waiting for us in the near future if we move forward unitedly with invincibility," Mr Mahn Win Khaing Than said.
"We must win the uprising."
The committee has issued several statements since its formation, but the protest movement on the ground appears largely leaderless - with daily rallies organised by local activists.
TREASON
The junta - self-anointed as the State Administration Council - had said the CRPH's formation is akin to "high treason", which carries a maximum sentence of 22 years in jail.
Meanwhile, video showed protesters holding handmade shields and wearing helmets as they confronted security forces in the Hlaingthaya district of Yangon. Plumes of black smoke rose over the area.
Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN said two Chinese-funded clothes factories in the district were set ablaze by people who arrived on motorcycles, armed with iron rods and axes.
More than 80 people had been killed and over 2,100 arrested as of Saturday in widespread protests against the military coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group said.
In Yangon, hundreds demonstrated in different parts of the city after putting up barricades of barbed wire and sandbags to block security forces.
In one area, people staged a sit-in protest under sheets of tarpaulin rigged up to protect them from the midday sun. "We need justice," they chanted.
At least 13 people were killed on Saturday, one of the bloodiest days since the coup.
"They are acting like they are in a war zone, with unarmed people," said activist Myat Thu in Mandalay. - REUTERS, AFP
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