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Some 2,000 protesters demonstrated against the military takeover in Myanmar’s largest city on Sunday and demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose elected government was overthrown by the army that also imposed an internet blackout.
The protest crowds have grown larger and bolder since Monday’s coup.
Union and student activists and members of the public chanted “Long live Mother Suu” and “Down with the military dictatorship” at a major intersection near Yangon University.
Riot police blocked the main entrance to the university. Two trucks with water cannons were parked nearby.
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Myanmar coup: Leader Suu Kyi was arrested again after a decade, but this time without her former support.
The protesters carried banners calling for the release of Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who were placed under house arrest and charged with misdemeanors, which many consider to provide a legal veneer to their detention.
Sunday’s rally came after some 1,000 protesters, factory workers and students among them, marched down a main street in Yangon, the country’s largest city, on Saturday morning and were greeted by more than 100 riot police. .
Members of the crowd chanted and marched with their hands in the air, formed in three-fingered salutes, a symbol of defiance adopted by protesters in neighboring Thailand, who borrowed the gesture of the The Hunger Games movie franchise.
Uncredited / AP
Hundreds of students and teachers have taken to the streets of Myanmar to demand that the military return power to elected politicians, as resistance to a coup increased with demonstrations in various parts of the country.
No violence was reported. Rallies of similar size were held in at least two other areas of Yangon, as well as in Mandalay, the second largest city. At Yangon City Hall, protesters handed flowers to the police.
For the fourth night on Friday, opponents of the coup and the arrests of activists and politicians who have accompanied them gathered at windows and balconies around Yangon to make a cacophony of noise in protest.
Early Friday, nearly 300 elected legislators from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party declared themselves the only legitimate representatives of the people and called for international recognition as the country’s government.
They were supposed to take their seats on Monday in a new session of Parliament after the November elections, when the army announced that it would take power for a year.
Uncredited / AP
Four activists show a three-finger protest salute during their court appearance in Mandalay, Myanmar.
The army accused Suu Kyi and her party of failing to act on their complaints that last November’s elections were marred by fraud, although the electoral commission said it had found no evidence to support the claims.
Suu Kyi’s five years as leader since 2015 had been Myanmar’s most democratic period despite the military retaining broad powers over the government, the continued use of repressive colonial-era laws and the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Communications cut
Myanmar’s new military authorities appeared to have cut off most of the internet access on Saturday (local time) as they faced a growing wave of protests over the coup that toppled the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Many Internet users noticed a slow disappearance of services, especially mobile service providers, which accelerated dramatically on Saturday morning. Broadband connections also failed later, while there were mixed reports on whether landline service was still working.
Uncredited / AP
A supporter displays a three-finger protest salute against the coup.
Netblocks, a London-based service that tracks internet outages and shutdowns, said Saturday afternoon that “a near-total internet shutdown is now in effect” in Myanmar, with connectivity dropping to just 16 percent from normal levels.
The big outage followed a government order on Friday to block Twitter and Instagram that said some people were trying to use the platforms to spread what they considered to be fake news. Facebook had already been blocked earlier in the week, though not completely effectively.
In a statement, Twitter said it was “deeply concerned” by the order and vowed to “advocate for an end to the destructive government-led shutdowns.”
“It undermines the public conversation and the rights of people to have their voices heard,” said its spokesperson.
Since the coup, social media platforms have been a major source of independent news, as well as protest organizing tools.
Manish Swarup / AP
Myanmar refugees in India take part in a protest against the overthrow of Myanmar’s elected government and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in New Delhi, India.
The communications blackouts are a stark reminder of the progress Myanmar is in danger of losing after Monday’s coup brought the nation back under direct military rule after a nearly decade-long move toward greater openness and democracy. . During the last five decades of Myanmar’s military rule, the country was isolated internationally and communication with the outside world was strictly controlled.
World leaders demonstrate in response to the coup
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises New Zealanders in Myanmar to register and update their SafeTravel details so that they can receive further updates.
The ministry advises Kiwis to avoid unnecessary travel, avoid large crowds and monitor media reporting. There were 72 New Zealanders registered in Myanmar, the ministry said.
In New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres promised on Friday that the United Nations will do everything possible to unite the international community and create the conditions to reverse the military coup in Myanmar.
He said at a press conference that it is “absolutely essential” to carry out the calls of the Security Council for the return to democracy, respect for the results of the November elections and the release of all people detained by the military, ” which means the reversal of the coup that took place “.
Uncredited / AP
The military has expanded its ban on social media in the wake of growing resistance to the coup.
Guterres said that Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN special envoy for Myanmar, had first contact with the army since the coup and voiced strong UN opposition to the seizure of power.
According to the UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, he reiterated to the vice-commander-in-chief vice general Soe Win “the energetic condemnation of the secretary general of the military action that disrupted the democratic reforms that were being carried out in the country.
In addition to the 134 officials and lawmakers who were detained in the coup, some 18 independent activists were also detained, the Myanmar Political Prisoners Assistance Association said, adding that some have been released.
Australia’s foreign minister’s office said in a statement on Saturday that the government was “deeply concerned by reports that Australians and other foreign nationals are arbitrarily detained in Myanmar.”
The statement said the government was particularly concerned about an Australian who was detained at a police station. The statement did not provide details on the identity of the detainees or the reasons for their detention.
On Friday, Suu Kyi’s senior assistant, Win Htein, was detained in Mayangone Township. He told the BBC in an earlier phone call that he was being arrested for sedition, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Suu Kyi and President Win Myint are also under house arrest and have been charged with misdemeanors, seen by many as a mere legal appearance of their arrest. Suu Kyi was described by her group as being in good health.
