Sleepless in Yangon: Myanmar residents share night patrol duties to avoid arrests

Mandalay University graduates hold posters that say "Stop arresting people illegally at midnight" "Save Myanmar" during an anti-coup protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. (AP)

• Move follows reports of gangsters, allegedly employed by security forces, planning to commit arson, robbery and poisoning of public wells
• Widespread fear and panic among residents has become the norm since the coup on Feb. 1

YANGON: Three “police officers” and a civilian were held for several hours on Saturday night by residents of Hmawbi, a small town about 40 km north of Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.
Residents held the four “out of fear and suspicion,” tying them with ropes before taking them to the nearest police station for verification.
“Three police apprehended a drug dealer while patrolling on Saturday night, then kept on patrolling and were held by the crowd,” a police officer, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Arab News over the phone on Sunday.
“It was a misunderstanding as residents reacted to them with panic. We understand their fear and anxiety. So, there will be no action against the residents,” he said.
Similar incidents were also reported from other areas of the city on Saturday. In some cases, volunteers in ambulances were blocked from picking up patients.
Widespread fear and panic among Yangon residents and elsewhere in Myanmar has become the norm since the military’s coup on Feb. 1.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered across Yangon, the country’s biggest city with a population of more than 5 million, as mass demonstrations against the military junta gained momentum across the nation. A curfew was then imposed.
Several residents, however, have defied the curfew since Friday night following reports of thugs — allegedly working for the security forces — planning to commit arson, robbery and poisoning of public wells.
The anger was fueled by a spike in arrests of opposition party members, such as activists and public servants, during midnight raids by security forces.
More than 350 people, including officials, activists and monks, have been arrested since the military coup, the UN’s human rights office said on Friday.
More detentions are expected to follow.
Meanwhile, the National Administrative Council, led by coup leader and military chief Min Aung Hlaing, said on Saturday it was suspending laws legalizing the arrest without warrant and detention of a suspect beyond 24 hours.
However, it also ordered forces to hunt down “seven dissidents,” including Min Ko Naing, an activist considered the second-most influential person after detained leader and former Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Residents in Yangon and other parts of the country are responding with anger and defiance, with some blocking the streets and others patrolling in groups to “protect themselves” at night.
In most townships of Yangon, residents have declared that a few would “rule certain quarters themselves” after losing faith in the government’s administrative mechanism.
Ko Phyo, a middle-aged man in the Mingalar Taung Nyunt township of Yangon, said that some residents had started wearing white helmets for easy identification and to distinguish themselves from strangers.
“We will have a series of meetings today and in the coming days to make the patrol more systematic,” he told Arab News on Sunday.
“Otherwise, we cannot sleep at night,” he said.
Aye Kyu, a 54-year-old resident of Yangon’s Hlaing township, said that his neighbors had teamed up to guard the area at night, starting from Friday when the junta released more than 23,000 prisoners under an amnesty marking the country’s Union Day.
“It was very similar to the situation just days before the brutal military crackdown on protesters in 1988,” he said, recalling the tactics employed by the former authorities who had allegedly deployed thugs to create unrest and chaos.
“They now need a reason to crack down on us. So they are creating a chaotic situation by making people feel insecure and respond with panic,” he told Arab News on Saturday.
“We now need to keep an eye open all the time. So, we agreed to assign ten men each night to guard the neighbors. We have no one to protect us. Police and soldiers are acting like thugs to us,” Aye Kyu said.
After the military junta legalized arrests without warrants, some residents have resorted to using metal pots and pans to create a noise and wake up neighbors in case of any unusual activity.
Over the past two nights, such noises were heard across Yangon, disturbing resident’s sleep.
Myo Min Thu, a 24-year student and a resident of Yangon’s Tarmwe township, has been actively participating in protests against the military coup and the regime since the first day of the demonstrations.
He said that people in the quarter he lives in have been discussing plans to continue their anti-coup movement.
“The elderly said they could guard the neighbors, and make noise and wake people only when they found things suspicious,” he told Arab News on Sunday.
“They said young people are yet to take to streets. By sharing the duties, we will keep the resistance on,” he said.