Tens of thousands rally in growing protests against Myanmar coup

YANGON-Agence France-Presse

Tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters in Myanmar poured back onto the streets on Feb. 7, as an internet blackout failed to stifle growing outrage at the military’s ouster of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The fresh rally followed large protests on Feb. 6 across the country condemning the coup that brought a 10-year experiment with democracy to a crashing halt.

Backed by a din of car horns, tens of thousands of protesters in Yangon held up banners on Feb. 7 saying "Justice for Myanmar" and "We do not want military dictatorship", while others waved the signature red flags of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

"I completely despise the military coup and I am not afraid of a crackdown," said Kyi Phyu Kyaw, a 20-year-old university student.

"I will join every day until Amay Suu (Mother Suu) is freed."

Many demonstrators also flashed the three-finger salute inspired by the "Hunger Games" films, which became a symbol of resistance during the pro-democracy protests in Thailand last year.

The path of the protesters to Yangon City Hall was blocked at several points by riot police, but some managed to get there by early afternoon. Other groups were still on their way.

"We will fight until the end," said Ye Kyaw, an 18-year-old economics student.

"The next generation can have democracy if we end this military dictatorship."

The surge in popular dissent over the weekend overrode a nationwide blockade of the internet, similar in magnitude to an earlier shutdown that coincided with the arrest of Suu Kyi and other senior leaders on Feb. 8.

Online calls to protest against the army takeover have prompted bold displays of defiance, including the nightly deafening clamor of people banging pots and pans - a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits.

"#Myanmar’s military and police must ensure the right to peaceful assembly is fully respected and demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals," the United Nations Human Rights office tweeted after Feb. 6's protests.

Protesters also gathered in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, to demand the release of detained leaders.

"We cannot accept this unlawful military coup," Win Mya Mya, an MP from Mandalay, told AFP.

As protests gathered steam this week, the junta ordered telecom networks to freeze access to Facebook, an extremely popular service in the country and arguably its main mode of communication.

The platform had hosted a rapidly growing "Civil Disobedience Movement" forum that had inspired civil servants, healthcare professionals and teachers to show their dissent by boycotting their jobs.

On Feb. 7, live Facebook video feeds showed the Yangon protesters as they marched through the streets. It was not immediately clear how they bypassed the government block.

The military had widened its efforts to quell organized dissent on Feb. 5 when it demanded new blocks on other social media services including Twitter.

Monitoring group Netblocks said Sunday that Myanmar "remains in the midst of a nation-scale internet blackout", with connectivity at 14 percent of usual levels.

"The generals are now attempting to paralyze the citizen movement of resistance - and keep the outside world in the dark - by cutting virtually all internet access," said Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
In addition to Suu Kyi and some of her top aides, dozens have been detained so far.

The precise number of arrests is not yet known, but monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said Saturday that more than 150 people were still in custody.

Rumors that Suu Kyi had been released triggered brief but raucous street celebrations among her supporters on Feb. 6, before they were denied by her lawyer who said she remained in detention.

An immensely popular figure despite a tarnished reputation in the West, Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the coup, but a party spokesman said Friday she was "in good health".

Two days after the coup, criminal charges were filed against her related to the illegal import of a set of walkie-talkies.
The military had hinted at its coup intentions days in advance, insisting that the NLD’s landslide victory in the November elections was the result of voter fraud.

Following the takeover, the junta proclaimed a one-year state of emergency after which it promised to hold fresh elections, without offering any precise timeframe.

The coup has been widely condemned by the international community, with U.S. President Joe Biden leading calls for the generals to relinquish power and release those arrested in the post-coup crackdown.