Burmese police fired rubber bullets in Yangon on Saturday to disperse demonstrators calling for the return of democracy, the day after a dramatic break between the country's ambassador to the UN and the ruling junta.
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The country has been rocked by a wave of pro-democracy protests since the military coup that toppled civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.
The authorities gradually increased the use of force to disperse them, with tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and sometimes live ammunition.
“
What are the police doing?
It protects a mad dictator
, ”chanted the demonstrators.
Hundreds of members of the Mon ethnic group gathered to commemorate their national holiday, joined by other ethnic groups protesting against the coup.
The demonstrators, many equipped with gas masks, helmets and makeshift shields, notably built barricades in the small surrounding streets.
At least 15 people have been arrested, police confirmed.
Three journalists are among those arrested, including a photographer from the American agency Associated Press as well as a videographer and a photographer from two Burmese agencies, Myanmar Now and Myanmar Pressphoto respectively.
The Burmese junta invokes to justify the coup electoral fraud during the general elections in November, the second since the dissolution of the junta in 2011 and which had been won hands down by the party of Aung San Suu Kiy.
The head of the army, General Min Aung Hlaing, now holds legislative, executive and judicial powers, de facto putting an end to the democratic experiment carried out for ten years by the country after almost half a century of military rule.
The last two coups d'état since the country's independence in 1948 date back to 1962 and 1988.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has not been seen in public since his arrest.
Under house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw, she was charged with illegally importing walkie-talkies and then violating coronavirus restrictions.
