Thousands march in central Tokyo to protest Myanmar coup

Thousands of Myanmar citizens have marched through the streets of central Tokyo to protest the military coup that took place in the Southeast Asian country earlier this month.

Around 5,000 people, mostly Myanmar nationals, streamed through the downtown shopping areas of Shibuya and Omotesando of the Japanese capital on Sunday.

The protesters called for the curfew to be lifted, the detainees to be released and their homeland country returned to the people. 

They chanted slogans against detainment by the military of major political leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.

They shouted slogans such as “Help us save Myanmar" and "Stop Crimes Against Humanity".

“The government the people of Myanmar chose has been taken from us,” one organizer said through a megaphone as protesters were gathering at Yoyogi Park before marching toward the scramble crossing near Shibuya Station. 

“There are many people from Myanmar living in Japan and we want people to understand our situation and support our cause.”

"It is very heart-rending," said Thant Zaw Htun, 45, originally from the biggest Myanmar city Yangon and now an employee at a recruitment agency, referring to the protests in Myanmar.

"I want to go back to Myanmar to join them but cannot because of the situation (travel ban due to the coronavirus pandemic). Instead, I join here today to do what I can do." 

Several demonstrations have been held in Japan since the Feb. 1 coup, mainly by Myanmar residents of Japan.

While the detention of elected leader Suu Kyi is currently due to end on Monday, Myanmar's military earlier issued arrest warrants for several anti-coup activists and warned the public against hiding them, as mass protests continue against the military takeover for a ninth consecutive day.

The military, which took over the government in a coup d'etat early this month, has stepped up arrests of veteran campaigners, including doctors and others who have joined a civil disobedience movement against the coup.

More than 384 people have been detained since the coup, in a wave of mostly nightly arrests, according to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. 

Among the detainees are many top political allies of ousted leader Suu Kyi Suu, who has not been seen in public since she was detained on the first day of the coup on February 1. 

Crowds returned to the streets of the country’s biggest city, Yangon, on Sunday, carrying placards demanding the release of Suu Kyi.

The army reinstated a law on Saturday night, requiring people to report overnight visitors to their homes and ordered the arrest of well-known backers of mass protests.

On February 1, the military said it had arrested Suu Kyi and her associates over accusations of voter fraud in favor of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the November 2020 elections. 

The military handed power to commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and pledged to hold fresh elections and hand power to the winning party.

The general has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation against the coup.

Myanmar was ruled by the military until 2011, when Suu Kyi ended the junta rule and introduced what were presented as reforms. She had been under house arrest before.

Her party, however, cultivated close relations with the military from the beginning of its activity and formed an alliance with senior military officers.

She supported the military in a deadly campaign of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim community in the western state of Rakhine.

Suu Kyi also defended military atrocities against the Rohingya people at the United Nations top court in The Hague in December 2019.

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