YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — State TV in Myanmar says hundreds of people imprisoned for demonstrating against last month’s coup have been released. It was a rare conciliatory gesture by the military that appeared aimed at placating the protest movement. Witnesses outside Insein Prison in Yangon saw busloads of mostly young people, looking happy with some flashing the three-finger gesture of defiance adopted by protesters. Also Wednesday, Thein Zaw, a journalist for The Associated Press who was arrested last month while covering an anti-coup protest, was released. Myanmar’s security forces have cracked down violently on protests against a Feb. 1 coup that reversed a decade of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country and ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar junta frees hundreds held for anti-coup protests
