Junta troops beat students who joined ‘silent strike’ against regime in Yangon

Soldiers beat and kicked students at Yangon’s Insein Government Technical Institute (GTI) for participating in a ‘silent strike’ against military rule last week, members of the institute’s student union said. On Friday evening, the day after students at various educational institutions refused to attend class on the third anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup, junta troops arrived and positioned themselves in front of Insein GTI’s main building. The soldiers then arbitrarily stopped six students shopping near the Pyi Taw Thar bus stop in front of the institute, according to an Insein GTI student union member. “They forced the students into a car, planning to take them to Insein Prison. However, when they contacted their superiors, they were told to release the students, which they ultimately did,” the students union member said. “They had been punched in the eyes,” he added, referring to the abused students. “Some had broken ribs from being kicked by army boots.” On the day of the silent strike—the third anniversary of the military’s seizure of power in Myanmar—most of the students enrolled at Insein GTI had chosen not to attend classes, so most of the classrooms at the institute had simply closed. “Demonstrating with the silent strike on February 1 made our position clear,” another member of the Insein GTI student union said. “We do not attend school to support the junta.” It is unclear what the junta soldiers’ precise motive was for harassing silent strike participants, or the Insein GTI students specifically. However, students’ online group chats planning participation in the February 1 protests had leaked to pro-junta propaganda channels on Telegram, where users responded by calling for the strike participants’ arrest. Two of the Insein GTI students targeted by the junta troops were ethnically Rakhine, according to an officer of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), and the soldiers had used ethnic slurs when they beat them. “This was an ethnically targeted act, part of a longstanding fascist practice of intentionally attacking and oppressing minorities,” the ABFSU officer said. “As the national student unions’ federation we strongly condemn these actions. The military council must be held fully responsible,” he added. Established in 1895 near Yangon’s Lanmadaw Railway Station, the Insein GTI moved to its current location in 1908. It is Myanmar’s oldest vocational institute. According to data collected by the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), since the military coup the junta has killed 4,477 pro-democracy activists and arrested 25,951 as of February 2.

Junta troops beat students who joined ‘silent strike’ against regime in Yangon

Authorities temporarily detained and physically abused six students enrolled at a technical institute in Insein who had refused to attend class on the coup’s third anniversary

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