Pro-military protesters hurled bricks at a police car during a rally in Yangon on Thursday, the latest in a series of demonstrations aimed at delegitimising the results of last year’s general election.
About 100 demonstrators defied restrictions on mass gatherings meant to curb Covid-19 to join the march in front of the National Theater. They surrounded a group of 30 marchers who had been given permission to protest.
Shouting slogans in favour of the military and against the Union Election Commission (UEC), the protesters marched along Myoma Kyaung Road before their way was blocked by a police car.
They then began collecting bricks from a nearby construction site and threw them at the car.
Police detained four people during the event, but did not arrest anyone who threw bricks, said police major Tin Aye. “How can we know who they were, there were a lot of people?” he told Myanmar Now.
About 10 vehicles brought the unauthorised protesters to the demo and drove them away again afterwards.
Police were still assessing how many people had been injured in the attacks, Tin Aye said, without elaborating.
“We surrounded the group that had permission to do a peaceful procession. It ended peacefully. That is what I want to say,” he added.
A military spokesperson on Tuesday refused to rule out staging a coup in response to what it claims, without evidence, is potential voter fraud in the November 8 election.
The poll delivered an enormous landslide to the ruling National League for Democracy while the military’s proxy party lost seats from among the handful it holds in parliament.
