Politics

Staff in more than 70 Myanmar hospitals strike to protest coup

Yangon, Myanmar, Feb 3 (efe-epa).- Staff from more than 70 hospitals and medical centers in Myanmar responded to calls for a civil disobedience campaign and stopped work on Wednesday to protest against the coup staged by the military earlier this week, the organizers said.

Specialists, nurses, dentists, doctors and other health workers from 74 hospitals in more than 30 cities were among the first to go on strike following the military takeover on Monday, according to a statement by the Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement posted on Facebook.

The call to strike was made on Tuesday by a group of doctors in the city of Mandalay, in the north of the country, saying they would not work for a “coup government.”

In a statement posted online, the staff of the children’s hospital in the Burmese city said that they would protest peacefully as part of a civil disobedience campaign starting Feb. 3 and appealed to other medical personnel to join the protest against the government.

The Civil Disobedience Movement was launched by the Yangon Youth Network, one of the biggest activist groups in the country “as an immediate response” to the coup.

The health workers’ strike comes after people in Yangon protested on Tuesday night against the military coup.

The army staged a bloodless coup Monday alleging that there was massive fraud in the elections, the second held since the transition to democracy in the country after almost half a century of fierce military dictatorship.

Shortly before the putsch, Nobel laureate and de facto leader of the previous administration, Aung San Suu Kyi, various members of the government, regional presidents, politicians from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, activists and artists were detained by the military and are still under arrest, although charges against them are unknown.

The citizens honked car horns and banged on pots and pans in protest of the coup, while many chanted “Long live mother Aung San Suu Kyi.”

In response, the ministry of information issued a statement warning media and citizens not to spread rumors on social media or incite riots.

The ministry also asked the public cooperate in accordance with the laws and the government.

The National League for Democracy asked the military on Tuesday to immediately release all those detained during the coup and to respect the results of the general elections held in November, where the party won a landslide victory by claiming 83 percent of parliamentary seats.

The military alleges that there was massive fraud in the elections, the second held since the transition to democracy in the country after almost half a century of fierce military dictatorship. EFE-EPA

mk-raa/pd/lds

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