Myanmar protests pick up speed as protesters urge military to release Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar protests pick up speed as protesters urge military to release Aung San Suu Kyi

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A witness in former capital Yangon told CNN that the crowd on Sunday consisted mainly of young people and appeared to be significantly larger and more organized than Saturday’s protest. Public participation also appeared to be growing, according to witnesses. The Reuters news service said tens of thousands were on the streets.
Protesters held banners and posters with the image of Suu Kyi, some reading “We want our leader”. Suu Kyi and other democratically elected lawmakers were detained by the military in pre-dawn Monday operations.

Protesters on Sunday were marching around the Yangon University area, changing directions to avoid roadblocks and any clashes with the police. A witness saw several police trucks in the area.

Resistance to the coup was initially limited, in part due to widespread communication difficulties, as well as fears of further repression.

Internet monitoring service NetBlocks said on Saturday that the country was in the middle of a second “national scale” internet blackout as the military tried to secure its control of power.

According to NetBlocks, real-time network data showed that connectivity dropped to 16% from normal levels and users reported difficulty connecting.

Protesters march during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 7, 2021.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) ordered the national shutdown of the data network on Saturday, according to the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor Group, which runs Telenor Myanmar.

The group, writing on Twitter, said the ministry cited “Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law and refers to the circulation of false news, nation stability and public interest as the basis for order”.

The drop in connectivity follows moves to block access to the social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as a number of important local news outlets.

Communication between protesters on Sunday was largely through SMS text messages, phone calls and word of mouth, according to a witness in Yangon. On Saturday, the crowds announced where to meet on Sunday, resulting in an apparently improved organization, the witness said.

Members of the Student Union, Labor Union and Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) Party were expected to join the protest on Sunday.

The riot police are blocking the street as protesters carry out a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on February 7, 2021.

Coup generates protests

For more than 50 years, Myanmar – also known as Burma – has been governed by successive isolationist military regimes that have plunged the country into poverty and brutally suppressed any dissent. Thousands of critics, activists, journalists, academics and artists were routinely arrested and tortured during this period.

The recently deposed civilian leader, Suu Kyi, gained international prominence during her decades-long struggle against the military regime. When his party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory in the 2015 elections and formed the first civilian government, many pro-democracy supporters hoped this would mark a break with the military regime of the past and offer hope of that Myanmar would continue the reform.

It was widely reported that the NLD won another decisive victory in the November 2020 general election, giving it another five years in power and dashing the hopes of some military figures that an opposition party they supported could take power democratically.

Why did generals really regain power in Myanmar

The sudden seizure of power came when the new Parliament was about to open and after months of growing friction between the civilian government and the powerful military, known as Tatmadaw, over alleged electoral irregularities. The country’s electoral commission has repeatedly denied mass electoral fraud.

Hundreds of NLD lawmakers were detained in the capital Naypyitaw on Monday, where they traveled to take their seats. Since then, the junta has removed 24 government ministers and deputies and appointed 11 of its own allies as substitutes who will take up their positions in a new administration.

Analysts suggested the coup had more to do with the military’s attempt to reaffirm its power and the personal ambition of Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing, who was due to resign this year, than with serious allegations of electoral fraud.
Monday’s coup was widely condemned internationally, with the United States calling on Myanmar’s military leaders to “immediately renounce the power they have taken, release the activists and officials they have held, lift all restrictions on telecommunications and avoid violence against civilians. “.

CNN’s Helen Regan and James Griffiths contributed to this report.

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