Newly released anti-coup protesters in Myanmar were reunited with their families outside a Yangon prison on Tuesday in tearful scenes on the second day of a junta amnesty as international pressure mounts on the regime.
The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since a coup in February, with more than 1,100 civilians killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent and more than 8,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.
On Monday, the military said it would free more than 5,000 people to mark the three-day Buddhist Thadingyut festival, sending anxious families rushing to prisons, joyful at the prospect of reunions after months apart. “I’ve missed you so much,” said a mother, who wept over her newly released son. “I’m so proud of you.”
She was among hundreds who had gathered again on Tuesday morning outside the colonial-era Insein prison in Yangon, some carrying flowers and placards bearing the names of their relatives.
Meanwhile, Nwet Nwet San said he was hoping his son, a soldier who had run away from the army, would be freed soon.
The amnesty was “a tactical response to a hostile domestic and international environment,” Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group said. “These kinds of cynical moves may have worked 20 years ago... but it will do nothing to improve the standing of this regime.”
