Protests after Myanmar junta cuts internet, deploys troops

YANGON-Agence France-Presse

Myanmar’s junta cut the nation’s internet and deployed extra troops around the country on Feb. 15 as it intensified a crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets.

The military has steadily escalated efforts to quell an uprising against their seizure of power two weeks ago, which saw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained along with hundreds, including members of her democratically elected government.

With protesters refusing to back down, the generals imposed an hours-long internet shutdown on Feb. 15 morning and ratcheted up the military’s presence across the country.

Extra troops were seen in key locations of Yangon, the nation’s commercial hub and biggest city, including armored personnel carriers near the central bank.

Live video streams on social media platforms before the blackout showed more military vehicles and soldiers moving through other parts of the country.

However, fresh protests again flared in Yangon on Feb. 15 morning, including near the central bank.

Hundreds of engineering and technology students protested in a northern district of the city, according to an AFP journalist.

There was a fresh rally in the southern city of Dawei too, a verified live stream on Facebook showed, with hundreds of protesters accompanied by a marching band.

Some carried banners against the military that read: "They kill in (the) day. They steal at night. They lie on TV."

Monitoring group NetBlocks reported that a "state-ordered information blackout" had taken Myanmar almost entirely offline, but services began resuming around the start of the working day.

"Network data show national connectivity rising to ordinary levels after information blackout," NetBlocks reported, adding that the outage lasted around eight hours.

But the monitor noted that most users in Myanmar were still barred from social media.

Intensifying fears the military was going to impose a far harsher crackdown, troops in the northern city of Myitkyina fired tear gas then shot at a crowd on Feb. 14 night.

A journalist at the scene said it was unclear whether police had used rubber bullets or live rounds.

Local media outlets said at least five journalists monitoring the protest were detained and published pictures of some people wounded in the incident.

A joint statement from the U.S., British and European Union ambassadors urged security forces not to harm civilians.

"We call on security forces to refrain from violence against demonstrators, who are protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government," they said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed that call. Through his spokesman, he also asked the military to "urgently" allow Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener to visit Myanmar "to assess the situation first hand".

The U.S. embassy advised American citizens to shelter in place and not risk defying an overnight curfew imposed by the regime.

U.N. special rapporteur Tom Andrews said the junta’s efforts to rein in the burgeoning protest movement was a sign of "desperation" and amounted to a declaration of war against its people.

"Attention generals: You WILL be held accountable," he wrote on Twitter.

Much of the country has been in uproar since soldiers detained Aung San Suu Kyi and her top political allies on February 1, ending a decade-old fledgling democracy after generations of junta rule.

The Nobel laureate spent years under house arrest during an earlier dictatorship and has not been seen in public since she was detained.

Her period of detention was expected to expire on Feb. 15. Her lawyer, however, was not contactable and the generals have given no indication that she would be released.

An internet blackout last weekend failed to quell resistance that has seen huge crowds throng big urban centers and isolated frontier villages alike.

Striking workers who spearheaded the campaign are among at least 400 people to have been detained since the coup, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

Fear of arrest did not deter big crowds from returning to streets around the country for a ninth straight day of street protests on Feb. 14.

In Dawei, seven police officers broke ranks to join anti-coup protesters, mirroring local media reports of isolated defections from the force in recent days.

Parts of the country have in recent days formed neighborhood watch brigades to prevent the arrests of residents joining the civil disobedience movement.

"We don’t trust anyone at this time, especially those with uniforms," said Myo Ko Ko, member of a street patrol in Yangon.

The country’s new military leadership has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation.

The junta insists it took power lawfully and has instructed journalists in the country not to refer to it as a government that took power in a coup.