Some 84 protesters arrested at an anti-junta sit-in protest in Mandalay on March 7 have been charged with violating Section 505a of Myanmar’s Penal Code.
Tens of thousands of people, including health workers, engineers and university students, gathered for a sit-in at the intersection of 22nd and 89th streets on Sunday, only to be attacked by soldiers and police.
Ninety-two protesters– 73 men and 19 women– were arrested in the crackdown and have been detained at Mandalay’s Obo prison, according to family members, who noted that most were students or bystanders.
Over video conference on Monday, 84 were remanded without bail and charged under Section 505a, under which it is a crime to cause, or intend to cause, members of the government to be “disobedien[t]” or “disloyal.”
The law, recently amended by the regime, carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison for those convicted.
Lawyers and family members of the detained protesters gathered outside the Aungmyay Thazan Township court on the morning of March 8, believing that those who had been arrested would be appearing before the court, but they did not.
Representatives from the township’s People’s Lawyers Association collected photocopies of detained students’ household registration documents and identification cards in order to provide legal aid to them.
Their hearing is scheduled for March 22.
Seven armed soldiers, including an officer from the township police station, warned the crowd outside the court to disperse. Ten armed soldiers were also stationed at the nearby General Administration Department office.
Four underage protesters were released after signing a letter of guarantee that they would not participate in the demonstrations again, according to Thant Lwin Win, who is among the lawyers working on the protesters’ case.
The Sunday crackdown which led to the arrest of the protesters currently in Obo prison lasted more than two hours. Even after demonstrators had fled, soldiers fired guns while searching the homes in nearby wards for students in hiding. They also shot at people with slingshots and destroyed barricades that had been set up for protection.
Tayza San, a protest leader, told Myanmar Now that area residents played a key role in supporting the movement by assisting fleeing protesters.
“The people helped not just because they knew what kind of danger could be facing the protesters,” he said. “They helped because they are against the dictatorship, even if they’re home, not taking to the streets. I have faith in the entire public.”
Soldiers and police have carried crackdowns in Mandalay almost every day in recent weeks resulting in multiple casualties and arrests. Yet the protests have continued.
“If the people stay quiet out of fear of the acts of terrorism by the dictatorship, we’ll have to be silent forever. That’s why we need to continue fighting until we win,” Tayza San said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Zaw Myo Ko was killed in Mandalay on March 5 after being shot in the neck by security forces at a march led by striking engineers and firefighters. He was reportedly there as a supporting figure, not a demonstrator.
In the Mandalay Region town of Myingyan, where one person was killed on March 3, six protesters have been arrested and detained, and like those in Mandalay, were charged with violating Section 505a.
