Junta supporters stage protests against UNSC resolution in two Arakan State townships

04 Jan 2023

DMG Newsroom
4 January 2023, Thandwe

A group of people led by the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) staged protests against a United Nations Security Council resolution in Thandwe and Taungup, Arakan State, on January 3, according to local residents.

A few people joined protests organised by the Arakan USDP, with protesters’ slogans including “Oppose the unilateral decisions of the UN Security Council”, “Only Myanmar people can solve the problem of Myanmar”, “No NUG, CRPH and PDF”, “Immediately stop the violent killing of innocent people”, and “Stop the killing of monks and civil servants”.

“Many people in downtown Thandwe don’t know about the protests. The protestors were reportedly fed with food. The name is used to say that the locals are participating in the protest. Most people here don’t know anything,” said a resident of Thandwe who did not want to be named for security reasons.

The protests were staged at the township football pitch in Thandwe’s Ward 8 and at U Ottama Playground in Taungup’s Theintaing Ward on the morning of January 3.

“The protests were reportedly organised by the Arakan State USDP,” said U Maung Maung Phyu, a member of the Thandwe Township Arakan National Party (ANP) central working committee. “No local people participated in the demonstrations. Only USDP members joined the protests.”

“I didn’t know about the protest in my neighbourhood,” said Ko Jet Mel, a resident of Taungup’s Theintaung Ward.

When DMG contacted U San Naing, chairman of the USDP’s Thandwe Township office, regarding the protests, he said that he was in Yangon and did not know about the matter.

The text of the UN’s first-of-its kind resolution on Myanmar can be found, in its entirety, here.