Sittwe, Rakhine — Eight anti-coup protesters were arrested in Rakhine State on Tuesday after protests against the military coup in five townships in central and southern Rakhine.
Six residents in Ann Township and two National League for Democracy (NLD) executives in Taungup Township were arrested on Tuesday. Two of the protesters detained are ethnically Chin students from the organization Chin University Students in Rakhine State.
Police are prosecuting them under the Natural Disaster Management Law.
“The whole country is staging protests. It is unfair to pick out a few members of large protests,” said Daw Tin Tin Aung, mother of one of the detained Chin students, Mai Yadanar Aung.
Taungup residents gathered outside the central police station on Tuesday evening, demanding that two NLD executives be released. On Wednesday, around 200 people are staging a sit-in protest at the police station, calling for their release.
There were rumors the military has taken the two from the police station to the Fifth Military Operations Command in the township.
In Manaung Township, police briefly detained three NLD members on Tuesday and released them by midnight.
Protests against the military coup are sweeping Rakhine State. Amid reports that protests are pending in the state capital, Sittwe, police interrogated leaders of some Sittwe-based civil society organizations on Tuesday, and soldiers and police patrolled the town, raising public concerns.
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