Hlaingthaya massacre
Part of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and subsequent 2021–2023 Myanmar protests
Site of massacre is located in Myanmar
Site of massacre
Site of massacre
Site of massacre (Myanmar)
LocationHlaingthaya Township, Yangon
Date14 March 2021
Deaths65+ civilians
Perpetrators
ChargesNone

The Hlaingthaya massacre was a mass killing of civilians on 14 March 2021, in Hlaingthaya Township (also spelt Hlaing Tharyar and Hlinethaya), Yangon, Myanmar. During the massacre, Myanmar Army troops and Myanmar Police Force officers killed at least sixty-five individuals.[1] The massacre became one of the deadliest domestic incidents to occur in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, and marked a serious escalation in the military's violence against civilians resisting the coup.[2][3][1] The violent crackdown also precipitated a mass exodus of factory workers, residents, and businesses from Hlaingthaya, a major factory hub in the country.[4][5]

Background

On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar Armed Forces staged a coup d'état and deposed the democratically elected government led by the National League for Democracy. Shortly thereafter, the military established a junta, the State Administration Council, and declared a national state of emergency. In response, civilians throughout the country staged large-scale protests to resist the military takeover.

Large-scale protests began in Hlaingthaya in early March.[6] Protests in Hlaingthaya Township, a working-class suburb located in the outskirts of Yangon, were particularly large and well-organised because of trade union members and factory workers who lived and worked in the area, which is the site of over 850 garment factories.[7][6][8][9] The township is also home to many internally displaced migrants from Ayeyarwady Region who were displaced after the 2008 Cyclone Nargis.[10]

Incident

A sit-in strike in Yangon on 7 February.

On the dawn of 14 March 2021, Hlaingthaya protesters had set up cement block, bamboo, and sandbag barriers at major bus stops on Hlaing River Road (locally known as 'Nyaungdon Road'), a major east-to-west thoroughfare, in preparation for sit-in strikes.[6][11] Around 7 am, 50 women arrived at the protest site, chanting Buddhist parittas to ensure the protesters' safety.[12] Around 9:30 am, thousands of protesters had gathered at the site.[13][12]

An aerial view of Aung Zeya Bridge.

Around 10 am, military trucks began crossing Bayinnaung Bridge to enter the township, with approximately 200 soldiers ultimately breaching the barriers and forcing protesters to disperse.[12][6] By 11 am, soldiers and police officers began kettling protesters by advancing from both directions, deliberately firing at protesters with live ammunition.[6] Security forces and snipers also gathered atop Aung Zeya Bridge, which overlooks the thoroughfare and connects the township to the rest of Yangon, to shoot protesters and other civilians, including volunteer medics and ambulance workers.[6]

In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported at least 22 deaths and 20 injuries.[14] By the following afternoon, the death toll had risen to 58.[11] A December 2021 Human Rights Watch report tallied at least 65 casualties, with victims ranging from the ages of 17 to 78.[15][3] Many victims were buried at nearby Hteinbin Cemetery.[16] No security force casualties were reported.[6]

Perpetrators

The massacre was jointly executed by security forces from the Myanmar Army, under the command of Nyunt Win Swe, and the Myanmar Police Force, under the command of Myo Min Htike, the police chief of Yangon Region.[6] Riot police (called lon htein) collaborated with soldiers from the 77th Light Infantry Division (LID) during protest crackdown.[2][6]

Aftermath

As the events unfolded, at least 32 Chinese-owned factories in the township were deliberately set on fire by unknown assailants, with losses totaling $37 million USD.[17][18] Following the massacre, security forces established a heavy presence in the township's main areas.[19] On the following Tuesday, 17 March, security forces killed at least 6 workers and arrested another 70 workers after a wage dispute at a Chinese-owned shoe factory in Hlaingthaya.[20] In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, thousands of migrant workers fled the township, returning to their hometowns.[16][19] By September 2021, at least 73 factories in Hlaingthaya's three industrial zones – Hlaingthaya, Shwe Linban, and Shwe Thanlwin - had shuttered, rendering at least 20,000 workers unemployed.[21]

Reactions

Domestic

On the evening of 14 March, the military regime imposed martial law in Hlaingthaya and nearby Shwepyitha townships, vesting judicial and executive authority with Nyunt Win Swe, the army commander of Yangon Region.[22][17] Protesters were labelled by Burmese state media as "rioters"[22] The following day, martial law was expanded to North Dagon, North Okkalapa, South Dagon, and Dagon Seikkan townships.[23]

International

In the aftermath of the massacre, several United Nations bodies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and International Organization for Migration, denounced the violent crackdown in Hlaingthaya.[24] Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on Myanmar, and Dan Chugg, the British ambassador to Myanmar, called for the immediate cessation of violence.[25]

By contrast, Chinese state media focused attention on the financial damage caused by the crackdown.[26] The Chinese embassy in Myanmar called for Burmese security forces to ensure the safety of Chinese companies and personnel, to protect major Chinese investments in the area.[18]

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, condemned the military's lethal crackdown in Hlaingthaya, and called for the international community to take concrete actions in response.[16] On 22 March, the United States government imposed sanctions on the Myanmar Army's 77th Light Infantry Division, on Than Hlaing, the national chief of the Myanmar Police Force, and on Aung Soe, commander of the Myanmar Army's Bureau of Special Operations.[27] The same day, the European Union imposed sanctions and travel bans on 11 individuals, constituting the first round of EU sanctions in the aftermath of the February coup.[28][29]

Legacy

In the aftermath of the massacre, Burmese poet Thitsar Ni published the poem "Hlaingthaya," which recounted his own observations of the massacre.[30] In January 2022, an English translation of the poem was published in a poetry anthology.[31]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "A Year On, No Justice for Myanmar Massacre". Human Rights Watch. 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  2. 1 2 "Violence Against Protestors at Hlaing Tharyar". Myanmar Witness. 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  3. 1 2 "Myanmar Junta's Worst Massacres of 2021". The Irrawaddy. 2021-12-30. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  4. ↑ Nway; Fishbein, Emily (2022-02-06). "Revolutionary roads: how the army tried to crush Yangon's most anti-coup district". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  5. ↑ Harding, Luke (2021-03-15). "Myanmar army imposes martial law in two cities as more protesters killed". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Myanmar: Protesters Targeted in March Massacre". Human Rights Watch. 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  7. ↑ "Garment Workers' Fight for Democracy in Myanmar". Remake. 2021-04-06. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  8. ↑ "In the Face of Massacres, Workers in Myanmar Are Still Fighting the Coup". Jacobin. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  9. ↑ Thar, Hein (2019-11-06). "Government seeks to tame Hlaing Tharyar, Yangon's wild west". Frontier Myanmar. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  10. ↑ "The struggles of Hlaing Thar Yar". Insight Myanmar. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  11. 1 2 "'I never thought gangsters cried': Hlaing Tharyar locals shaken but defiant". Frontier Myanmar. 2021-03-19. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  12. 1 2 3 "A day of tragedy and terror in Hlaing Tharyar". Frontier Myanmar. 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  13. ↑ "Nowhere is Safe": The Myanmar Junta's Crimes Against Humanity" (PDF). Fortify Rights. 2022-03-24.
  14. ↑ "Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup". Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  15. ↑ "Recent Fatality List" (PDF). Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. 2021-11-20.
  16. 1 2 3 "Residents flee violence, martial law in Yangon factory district". Frontier Myanmar. 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  17. 1 2 Harding, Luke (2021-03-15). "Myanmar army imposes martial law in two cities as more protesters killed". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  18. 1 2 "Chinese-Owned Factories on Fire While Myanmar Military Regime's Protest Crackdowns Escalate". The Irrawaddy. 2021-03-14. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  19. 1 2 "Yangon becomes battle zone as Myanmar junta enforces martial law". The Guardian. 2021-03-17. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  20. ↑ "At least six killed after factory owner calls in military in Hlaing Tharyar". Myanmar NOW. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  21. ↑ "[Myanmar] Increasing closures of factories and business since February harm the well-being of workers". The Nation Thailand. 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  22. 1 2 "Martial Law Order 1/2021" (PDF). The Global New Light of Myanmar. 2021-03-15. p. 1.
  23. ↑ Strangio, Sebastian (2021-03-15). "Black Sunday in Myanmar: Dozens Killed as Martial Law Declared". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  24. ↑ "Myanmar: UN rights office 'deeply disturbed' over intensifying violence against protesters". UN News. 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  25. ↑ "As Many as 70 Killed in Protests as Chinese Factory Torched in Myanmar's Bloodiest Day Since Coup". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  26. ↑ Nachemson, Andrew (2021-03-17). "China Finds Itself Under Fire in Myanmar". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  27. ↑ "United States Targets Burmese Military Forces for Repression of Pro-Democracy Protests". U.S. Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  28. ↑ Mann, Sunny (2021-03-19). "EU Sanctions on Myanmar Expected to be Announced on March 22 2021". Sanctions & Export Controls Update. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  29. ↑ "Myanmar/Burma: EU sanctions 11 people over the recent military coup and ensuing repression". European Council. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  30. ↑ Ling, Emma Sandvik (December 2021). "Bearing witness through poetry". Index on Censorship. 50 (4).
  31. ↑ McKenna, Steph. "Translating trauma: 'Hlaingthaya' by Thitsar Ni". National Centre for Writing. Retrieved 2023-02-28.

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