Milan (Agenzia Fides) - The Burmese communities abroad will be linked together on Sunday May 2nd in a kind of global human chain that will stretch across the world through 16 countries in Asia, America and Europe, where the various groups of Burmese living abroad will demonstrate in favor of the new government of national unity.
The new government was formed in mid-April on the initiative of the parliamentarians elected on November 8th last year, who were denied the possibility of forming a government by the military coup on February 1st, 2021. The various Burmese communities abroad will be located in symbolic locations in different cities in the USA, Canada or Australia.
In Asia there will be demonstrations in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia. In Europe, the global human chain will touch Belgium and Holland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Finland and Italy. In Italy, where the Burmese demonstrated in Rome last week (see Fides 26/3/2021), this time the community of Myanmar citizens living abroad will gather in Milan.
Thuzar Linn, spokeswoman for the community, explains the contents of this widespread event: "There are four points - explains the woman who has lived in Italy for many years - that revolve around our main requests. The first concerns the recognition of the new government, which for us is not a transitional government but the legitimate government of Myanmar. The second request concerns Tatmadaw, the Burmese army, which we want to declare as a 'terrorist organization', for the use of violence against innocent people. Of course - she continues - we want an end to the abuses against human rights in Myanmar; finally, we hope for a definitive democratic change, so that ours is the last generation forced to suffer a dictatorship".
The rally is scheduled to take place in Milan on May 2nd at 11 a.m. The event, which will be attended by Burmese from across the country, as well as priests and nuns from Myanmar living in Italy, will last an hour and a half and has been approved by civil authorities taking into account the protocol to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The international initiative of the Burmese in diaspora is a sign that most Burmese hope for a peaceful solution that guarantees a return to democracy. Just last Saturday in Jakarta, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries called for a return to dialogue and an end to violence against civilians.
In Myanmar, the situation remains serious, with continuous violence against demonstrators and firefights and bombings in the peripheral areas of the country, where the armed militias of the regional autonomies are present. According to the "Assistance Association for Political Prisoners" organization, which has a widespread network in Myanmar, a total of 759 civilians have died in Myanmar since the February 1 coup. (MG-PA)
(Agenzia Fides, 30/4/2021)