The streets of many towns and cities across Myanmar were deserted on Friday as the public held a silent strike against the military government, days after a massacre of villagers that has provoked international condemnation.
Reports of the killing of 11 villagers in the Sagaing region on Tuesday were described by the US as credible and sickening A UN spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR warned of an escalation of grave human rights abuses in Myanmar The military rounded up villagers and then set them on fire, according to reports by independent local media. A video and photograph that appears to show the burned corpses in Don Taw village has been shared on social media.
The OHCHR called for a unified international response. It referred to a recent military attack on a group of peaceful, unarmed protesters who had gathered in Yangon on 5 December. According to local media reports, a military vehicle rammed into the group and opened fire, killing as many as five people.
These attacks are heinous, completely unacceptable, and disregard common values of humanity. They are also far from isolated, said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the OHCHR.
In state-controlled media, the military accused UN officials and others of interfering with Myanmar's domestic affairs and relying on distorted news It denied reports of the massacre in Don Taw and accused nation-destroying media of publishing false reports.
On Friday, businesses shut off between 10 am and 4 pm to show defiance against the junta, with a silent strike in many areas of the country. The lines of shops and businesses closed in Yangon, normally congested roads were deserted. A prominent protest leader, Min Han Htet, posted images of empty streets on social media, along with the message: We are one organism. The prominent activist Thet Swe Win said on social media that soldiers had taken over the property of businesses that had closed and forced business owners to show up and arrest.
Friday s protest was reported to have occurred across the second city, Mandalay, and in towns across the Sagaing region, Bago region, Ayeyarwaddy region, Shan state and Magwe region.
The opposition remains strong and people continue to find peaceful ways to defy the junta. An armed resistance consisting of defence forces has also emerged.
The military killed 1,323 people since it took power on 1 February, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group that monitors deaths and arrests. A further 7,881 are currently in custody.