Myanmar's junta chief sat down with a prominent senior figure of Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted party on Sunday, the first significant meeting since the February coup.

The military deposed Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party from power, pushing many of her closest political allies into hiding while others have been arrested.

The junta has alleged electoral fraud in last year's poll as a justification for the putsch, but much of the country is in open revolt calling for a return to democracy.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday met with longtime politician and NLD stalwart Tin Oo, who has in recent years receded from the political landscape due to old age and poor health.

"Min Aung Hlaing told U Tin Oo that health treatment could be provided if necessary, and his army hospital will help," the junta's information team announced.

Tin Oo, a 94-year-old former army general and co-founder of NLD, was pictured wearing his party pin -- a trademark red flag with a golden peacock -- during the meeting with Min Aung Hlaing, who was all smiles in civilian attire.

The junta chief also met with Khin Nyunt, former spy chief-turned-prime minister before he was arrested under the former junta.

"Min Aung Hlaing also went to meet U Khin Nyunt... and asked about his health condition."

The 82-year-old spent years in prison before he was released in 2012.

While some in the West saw him as a potential reformer, Khin Nyunt's reign as spy chief saw activists harassed, arrested and tortured en masse.

Khin Nyunt's intelligence apparatus -- which once infiltrated every neighbourhood across Myanmar -- was purged after his ouster, while Tin Oo no longer plays an active role in NLD party affairs, said Richard Horsey, International Crisis Group's Myanmar senior advisor.

"It seems unlikely this meeting was sanctioned by the NLD," Horsey told AFP.

"Given that Min Aung Hlaing seems determined to sideline Aung San Suu Kyi and won't meet with her, perhaps he's looking for other meetings that will be politically cost-free."

A former NLD MP -- who is now part of a group of ousted lawmakers working underground to undermine the junta -- criticised the meeting Sunday.

"The intention of this meeting is dishonest. Min Aung Hlaing wants to take political advantage out of this meeting," said Htun Myint, who is currently on the run.

After the February coup, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. She currently faces a raft of charges that could see her jailed for decades.

Sunday's meeting came on the eve of a junta court verdict on Suu Kyi's charges of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions.

The verdict was due to be announced last week, but the court adjourned it until December 6, without providing a reason.

Three wounded as Myanmar soldiers ram car into protest
Yangon (AFP) Dec 5, 2021 - Myanmar soldiers wounded at least three people after ramming a car into a peaceful anti-coup rally in Yangon, eyewitnesses said Sunday.

The country has been in turmoil since February when the military seized power, triggering nationwide demonstrations which the junta sought to quell with violent crackdowns and mass arrests.

More than 10 months of military rule has seen some 1,300 killed rallying against the army but small, highly mobile protests still crop up.

The rally in Yangon was violently dispersed Sunday morning when a large car ploughed into it, according to a journalist there.

"They increased the speed when they got closer to the protesters -- it was like they drove into them," he said, declining to provide his name for security reasons.

He said a handful of people, some carrying banners in support of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were hit and splayed on the ground as others fled the scene.

"Then the soldiers jumped out of the car and started shooting," he said.

One protester appeared to have been seriously wounded, said another person at the scene, and was taken with two others -- one of them a Myanmar journalist -- away in an ambulance.

Soldiers then started beating three people knocked over by the vehicle, a 26-year-old resident alleged.

"The soldiers then pointed their guns at us and ordered all the bystanders to leave, so we had to leave," the resident added.

State-run MRTV news reported that security forces "took action" on the protesters, though it made no mention of soldiers using a vehicle to collide with them.

It confirmed three people were injured -- with one sustaining serious wounds -- and 11 were arrested for "having a protest without asking for permission".

The junta has long justified its power takeover by alleging fraud in last year's elections, which Suu Kyi's party swept in an apparent landslide, and have vowed to hold fresh polls in 2023.

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