Myanmar: Fortune teller arrest spark protest after coup

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) - Residents in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, have continued protesting Friday and demand police release a fortune teller who was arrested after a coup.

Police detained young fortune teller Hein Min Aung in South Okapala township on Thursday, after video footage went viral in which he is seen lighting candles and praying for the failure of the dictatorship.

Despite a night-time curfew, hundreds of residents gathered in front of a police station where he was detained.

When police refused, some protesters decided to carry on demonstrations.

Protester Zar Zar, told Anadolu Agency via phone that demonstrators are still protesting police.

“The arrest is nothing accordance to the existing laws. We can’t let it happen,” she said.

The specific protest has drawn hundreds of people and she estimated at least 300 are still demonstrating at 8 p.m. (1330GMT).

A volunteer who has been providing medical services to demonstrators at the station said that protests appear as if they will last overnight.

“We also have been here since very early morning, and we will continue standing by here as long as they are here,” she told Anadolu Agency

Large-scale anti-coup protests continued for a seventh consecutive day Friday, following a military takeover.