Photos: Myanmar police cracks down on crowds defying protest ban
The biggest protests in more than a decade have swept Myanmar to denounce the coup and demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. The deposed 75-year-old elected leader first came to prominence in 1988 during a very different generation of protests against an earlier junta. At least 20 protesters were injured after police used rubber bullets in the capital Naypyidaw during the most serious clashes on February 9, according to a network of medics supporting the protests. In the northern city of Mandalay, witnesses told Bloomberg security forces blasted tear gas and water cannons, while police threatened to disburse large crowds that gathered in the commercial capital of Yangon.
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Protesters take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 9. Police fired gunshots into the air and used water cannon and rubber bullets on February 9 as protesters across Myanmar defied bans on big gatherings to oppose a military coup that halted a tentative transition to democracy.( Sai Aung Main / AFP)
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Protesters take part in a demonstration demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on February 9. The February 1 coup and detention of elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has brought the largest demonstrations in more than a decade and a growing civil disobedience movement affecting hospitals, schools and government offices.(Sai Aung Main / AFP)
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Protesters and police are seen in a rally against the military coup, in Naypyitaw on February 8. Witnesses told Reuters that police fired guns into the air in Naypyitaw as a crowd refused to disperse on the fourth straight day of protests. One witness told Reuters that demonstrators ran away as guns were fired into the air.(REUTERS)
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A police truck sprays water to a crowd of protesters in Naypyitaw on February 8. Tension in the confrontations between the authorities and demonstrators against last week's coup boiled over February 8 as police fired a water cannon at peaceful protesters in the capital.(AP)
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