Railway workers in Mandalay have been threatened with eviction in the latest bid to end their support for the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule.
Notices were posted around three housing compounds for the workers and their families on Thursday, warning them that they would be forced to leave if they continued to strike.
Residents said that soldiers arrived in eight military trucks and began posting the notices near Mandalay, Thoechan, and Myo Haung stations at around 3pm.
Thousands of people live in 800 units near Mandalay station, while the compound near Thoechan station houses around 600 people in 150 units, according to people living there.
The move comes about a month after soldiers and police fired into a housing estate for railway workers near Mandalay station following a day of peaceful protests.
Last week, hundreds of railway workers and their families living near Ma Hlwa Gone station in Yangon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt township were forced to flee their homes after the area was surrounded by regime forces.
Support for the CDM has been strong among employees of Myanmar’s state-owned railway. In Mandalay, workers have been on strike since February 8, a week after the coup that installed a new military junta in power.
According to locomotive driver Win Ko Oo, around 90% of those living near Thoechan station continue to back the movement.
Khant Lu Aung, a locomotive driver who lives near Mandalay station, said that workers there would decide next Monday whether to continue their support.
Pressure has been growing on public employees to return to work after more than five weeks of strikes aimed at forcing the regime to restore civilian rule.
“When they came to pin up the notices, they asked us if we wanted to see railway operations return to normal and get back to work. But I didn’t dare answer them,” said one woman living in the Thoechan compound.
“They said we would have to suffer the consequences of our choices,” she added.
