Crowds protests against military rule in Myanmar

Hundreds of people gathered in Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, to protest this week’s military coup.

“Military dictator, fail, fail; Democracy, win, win, ”chanted the crowd, the biggest demonstration ever since the arrival of the military.

They called for the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others detained by the military.

The protest came despite efforts by the military to prevent people from mobilizing by shutting down social media.

On Friday evening, Telenor, one of the country’s main Internet service providers, confirmed that it had been ordered to refuse access to both sites “until further notice”.

Coup leaders blocked Facebook on Thursday for the sake of “stability.”

And on Saturday, unconfirmed reports called for a total internet shutdown.

Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest, according to her lawyer. Police documents show that she is accused of illegally importing and using communications equipment – walkie-talkies – at her home in Nay Pyi Taw.

Why have social networks been blocked?

Many Burmese had watched the February 1 coup unfold in real time on Facebook, which is the country’s main source of news and news. But three days later, internet service providers were ordered to block the platform for stability reasons.

Following the ban, thousands of users were active on Twitter and Instagram using hashtags to express their opposition to the takeover. At 22:00 local time (15:30 GMT) on Friday, access to these platforms was also denied.

There has been no official word from those responsible for the coup, but the AFP news agency said it saw an unverified ministerial document stating that the two social media sites were being used to “provoke misunderstandings among the public ”.

Norwegian telecommunications provider Telenor expressed “grave concern” over the decision and said it “disputed the necessity and proportionality of the directive… and stressed the contradiction of the directive with international human rights law. ‘man”.

A Twitter spokeswoman said it undermined “public conversation and people’s rights to have their voices heard,” Reuters reported.

Facebook, owner of Instagram, called on the Burmese authorities to “restore connectivity so that people … can communicate with family and friends and access important information.”

How are the Burmese reacting to the coup?

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has remained generally calm after the coup.

But there have been a number of protests in different parts of the country, with residents of some towns leading nightly protests from their homes, banging pots and pans and singing revolutionary songs. There were also daytime flashmobs.

During Friday’s protest in Yangon, hundreds of teachers and students displayed the three-finger salute – a sign that was adopted by protesters across the region to show their opposition to the authoritarian regime. “We will not let our generation suffer under this type of military dictatorship,” student Min Sithu told AFP.

According to Nyein Chan of the BBC in Yangon, the Burmese are very familiar with the violent repressions the army is capable of, so as of now there are no widespread street protests. But now people have had time to digest what is going on, they are finding different ways to defend themselves and make their voices heard.

Why did the coup d’état take place?

The coup took place as a new session of parliament was due to open.

This follows the landslide election victory in November by the NLD – which the military described as fraudulent, although the country’s electoral commission said there was no evidence to support these claims.

The army declared a year of state of emergency and power was handed over to Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing.

This decision sparked global outrage. US President Joe Biden on Thursday called on the military to “relinquish power” and release detained officials and activists. The United States had previously threatened tough sanctions against Myanmar.

However, the military does not appear to be discouraged, continuing its path of consolidating power and appointing new ministers, BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head said.

The UN Security Council also called on Myanmar military authorities to release Ms. Suu Kyi and other detained leaders – but they did not condemn the coup. In doing so, she brought China and Russia behind a call for her release, which our correspondent described as a rare manifestation of international unity.

Myanmar at a glance

Myanmar is a country of 54 million people in Southeast Asia that shares borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand and Laos.

It was ruled by an oppressive military government from 1962 to 2011, leading to international condemnations and sanctions.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent years campaigning for democratic reforms. Gradual liberalization began in 2010, although the military retained considerable influence.

A government led by Ms. Suu Kyi came to power after free elections in 2015. But a deadly military crackdown two years later on Rohingya Muslims has driven hundreds of thousands to Bangladesh.

This sparked a rift between Ms. Suu Kyi and the international community after she refused to condemn the crackdown or describe it as ethnic cleansing.

She remained popular at home and her party won again by a landslide in the November 2020 elections. But the military has now stepped in to regain control.