Local Burmese Community Protests Violent Military Coup in Burma/Myanmar

photos by Alex Garland

Editor's note: On Friday, March 26, about 50 protesters, including members of Seattle's Burmese community, held a rally near the Space Needle in support of protesters opposing the return of military rule in *Burma/Myanmar.

On February 1, in response to a landslide victory by Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the Myanmar military staged a coup d'etat and arrested Suu Kyi and other leaders of her party. Dozens of protesters in Burma/Myanmar opposing military rule have been killed over the past two months, and this past weekend, at least 114 civilians (including several children) were killed during a violent crackdown across Burma/Myanmar.

The Seattle rally, organized by Save Burma/Myanmar Seattle, WA, featured songs and speeches (including some in Burmese), and many supporters at the rally flashed the three-finger salute from The Hunger Games that has been adopted by protesters opposed to military rule in the Southeast Asian nation. Members of the Burma/Myanmar Student Association at UW also participated in the Seattle event.

A recent article at Northwest Asian Weekly noted that the Seattle/King County Burmese community is the largest in Washington, and that there are an estimated 4,000 people of Burmese descent in the state.

*The Southeast Asian country of Burma was renamed Myanmar in 1989. Some people still prefer to use the name Burma to refer to the country, some choose to use Myanmar, and some use both. The Emerald has chosen to follow the lead of the local Burmese community organizers behind the March 26 event and used Burma/Myanmar in this article.

Editors' Note: The title of this post originally referred to the "violent military coup in Myanmar." We updated the title to match the country name as it appears in the body of the article, "Burma/Myanmar."

Alex Garland is a freelance photographer, reporter, and writer, with recent work featured with the Guardian and a frequent contributor to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog and the South Seattle Emerald. Alex started his journalism career in Seattle during the 2011 Occupy protests and has covered almost every major protest and activist movement in the city since. Published internationally, Alex enjoys working around the world, but calls Seattle home and cares deeply about the subjects he photographs and is grateful for the people and experiences he's met along the way. Providing accurate information for the people of Seattle to determine their own opinions is vital and Alex appreciates the trust his viewers and readers place in him to find the light. Follow his work at http://www.alexgarlandphotography.com and http://www.thedignityvirus.com.

Featured image: Members of Seattle's Burmese community gathered on Friday, March 26 to protest the violent military crackdown in Burma/Myanmar.

All photos by Alex Garland.