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YANGON: Internet access was partially restored in Myanmar on Sunday (Feb 7), as a nationwide web and social media blockade failed to stem public outrage and mass protests against the military coup that toppled the elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
“Partial restoration of internet connectivity was confirmed on #Myanmar as of 2:00 pm local time at various providers following a data blackout,” Internet monitoring service Netblocks said on Twitter.
Myanmar plunged into cyber darkness on Saturday on the orders of the army.
Netblocks said that social media platforms remained off limits Sunday afternoon.
But mobile phone customers using services with MPT, Ooredoo, Telenor and Mytel can now access mobile Internet and Wi-Fi data.
Earlier Sunday, Netblocks said connectivity in Myanmar was at 14 percent of usual levels.
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On a second day of widespread protests against the military junta, crowds in the largest city, Yangon, wore red T-shirts, red flags and red balloons, the color representing Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) Party. . They chanted: “We don’t want a military dictatorship! We want democracy! “
Sunday’s gathering was much larger than Saturday’s, when tens of thousands took to the streets in the first massive protests against the coup and despite an internet blackout ordered by the board in the name of ensuring calm.
Protesters march during a rally against the military coup in Yangon on February 7, 2021. (Photo: AFP / Ye Aung Thu)
On Sunday, massive crowds from all corners of Yangon gathered in townships and headed towards Sule Pagoda in the heart of downtown Yangon, also a rallying point during the 2007 protests led by Buddhist monks and others in 1988.
A line of police armed with riot shields set up barricades, but did not try to stop the demonstration. Some protesters presented flowers to the police as a sign of peace.
The protesters made a gesture with the three-finger salute that has become a symbol of protest against the coup. Drivers honked their horns and passengers held up photographs of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
“We don’t want to live in military boots,” said 29-year-old protester Ye Yint.
“We don’t want a dictatorship for the next generation,” said Thaw Zin, 21. “We will not end this revolution until we make history. We will fight to the end.”
At one of the meetings on Sunday, at least 2,000 union and student activists and members of the public gathered at a major intersection near Yangon University. They marched along a main road with heavy traffic. The drivers honked their horns in support.
Riot police blocked the main entrance to the university. Two trucks with water cannons were parked nearby.
Protesters clash with police on duty during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 7, 2021. (Photo: STR / AFP)
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Despite the internet shutdown, some people were able to broadcast on Facebook Live. Users said that Internet access appeared to have been restored on Sunday afternoon.
Telecom Myanmar said in a tweet around 2.30pm local time (4pm Singapore time) that its internet services had been restored in the country.
There was no comment from the board in the capital Naypyidaw, more than 350 kilometers north of Yangon, and state television news did not mention the protests.
An internal note to United Nations staff estimated that 1,000 people joined a protest in Naypyidaw while there were 60,000 in Yangon alone. Protests were also reported in the second city of Mandalay and in many cities in the country of 53 million people.
“EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE”
The demonstrations have been largely peaceful, unlike the bloody repressions observed in 1998 and 2007.
But shots were heard in the southeastern city of Myawaddy as armed and uniformed police charged a group of a couple hundred protesters, a live video showed. Photographs of the protesters later showed what appeared to be rubber bullet wounds.
“Anti-coup protests show all signs of gaining strength. On the one hand, given the history, we can expect backlash,” wrote author and historian Thant Myint-U on Twitter.
“On the other hand, Burmese society today is completely different from that of 1988 and even 2007. Anything is possible.”
Police stand guard on a street during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 7, 2021 (Photo: STR / AFP).
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Without the internet and scarce official information, rumors swirled about the fate of Aung San Suu Kyi and her cabinet. A story that she had been released drew crowds to celebrate Saturday, but her attorney quickly quashed it.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkies and is being held by the police for investigation until February 15. Her lawyer said she was not allowed to see her.
He won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy and spent nearly 15 years under house arrest during decades of fighting to end nearly half a century of army rule before a troubled transition to democracy began. in 2011.
Army commander Min Aung Hlaing carried out the coup for fraud in the November 8 elections in which Suu Kyi’s party won overwhelmingly. The electoral commission dismissed the allegations of negligence.
Protesters participate in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 7, 2021. (Photo: STR / AFP)
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More than 160 people have been arrested since the military took power, said Thomas Andrews, United Nations special rapporteur for Myanmar.
“The generals are now trying to cripple the citizen resistance movement – and keep the outside world in the dark – by cutting off virtually all access to the Internet,” Andrews said in a statement Sunday.
“We must all support the people of Myanmar in their hour of danger and need. They deserve nothing less.”
