Two managers of a Bahan township nightclub face jail time after a police raid found more than 80 revelers partying there in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions.
The managers of The Myst Bar & Lounge face up to three years in prison for violating emergency pandemic measures after an early Saturday morning raid found children of former military officers and a number of foreigners there.
“Don’t mess with COVID,” Facebooker Hsan Thit Sa said in a post of picture of vehicles outside the Bahan Police Station. “There were parents who came to sign a pledge for their children and drunk teenage girls. And a dad punched his son in the middle of the road!”
The Myst Bar & Lounge on Bahan township’s New University Avenue Road has apparently operated throughout the pandemic in violation of regulations set forth by the Committee for Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID 19.
Calls to the venue went unanswered.
Tun Myint, Bahan township’s Pyithu Hluttaw member, said more than 80 people were arrested by the Yangon Division Police at 2am on Saturday.
“In fact, there were many children of the former military generals and some foreigners. Since they have violated the law, we can’t do anything for them. All have been prosecuted under the Section 30 (d) of the Disaster Management Law,” he told reporters, adding that their cars were still parked on the road.
“Fall from 5 feet and got arrested for 12hour … what a long day,” said a Yangon DJ posting on Facebook as AwRa Tun along with a photo of his bandaged foot.
Staff, including the two unidentified managers, were also charged under Section 25 of the Disaster Management Law by Bahan police. The number and nationalities of foreign nationals among those detained were not released by the police.
Reached for comment, a Bahan Police representative told Coconuts they could not release further details about the raid.
All Yangon divisions except for the Coco Islands are under stay-at-home orders effective until Nov. 31 to contain the spread of COVID-19. The government has ordered the closure of bars, movie theatres, karaoke bars and nightclubs under threat of prosecution.
Myanmar reported another 2,100 cases and 44 deaths due to the coronavirus today, raising its total to 61,377 recorded cases and a death toll of 1,420 since the pandemic began.
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