Myanmar's junta frees hundreds of prisoners

[YANGON] Myanmar's junta freed hundreds of demonstrators arrested during its brutal crackdown on protests on Wednesday, while many businesses in Yangon remained shut and streets were deserted after anti-coup activists called for a silent strike.

Several buses full of prisoners drove out of Yangon's Insein jail in the morning, said witnesses, who included lawyers for some inmates.

There was no immediate word from authorities on how many prisoners were freed. A spokesman for the military did not answer calls.

"All the released are the ones arrested due to the protests, as well as night arrests or those who were out to buy something," said a member of a legal advisory group who said he saw around 15 buses leaving.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group says at least 2,000 people have been arrested in the military crackdown on the protests against the Feb 1 coup.

Many businesses were closed in Yangon, and few vehicles were seen on the road in the country's biggest city, witnesses said, after a call by pro-democracy activists for a silent strike.

"No going out, no shops, no working. All shut down. Just for one day," Nobel Aung, an illustrator and activist, told Reuters.

"The usual meat and vegetables vendors on the street didn't show up," said a resident of the city's Mayangone district. "No car noises, only birds." A teacher in the Kyauktada district said the roads were deserted. "There aren't many people in the streets, only water delivery men," the resident said.

The strike comes a day after staff at a funeral service in Mandalay told Reuters that a seven-year-old girl had died of bullet wounds in the city - the youngest of about 275 people killed in the bloody crackdown, according to the AAPP.

Soldiers shot at her father but hit the girl who was sitting on his lap inside their home, her sister told the Myanmar Now media outlet. Two men were also killed in the district, it said.

The military had no immediate comment on the incident.

The junta has faced international condemnation for staging the coup that halted Myanmar's slow transition to democracy and for its lethal suppression of the protests that followed.

It has tried to justify the takeover by saying a Nov 8 election won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was fraudulent - an accusation the electoral commission has rejected. Military leaders have promised a new election but have not set a date and have declared a state of emergency.

Meanwhile a court hearing for Ms Suu Kyi has been postponed until April 1, an aide to her lawyer said on Wednesday, marking the second successive postponement in her case.

Ms Suu Kyi who was arrested the same day the military seized power in Myanmar faces charges that include illegally importing six handheld radios and breaching coronavirus protocols. The military has also accused her of bribery in two recent televised news conferences.

REUTERS