Security officials responded to the dissent with brutal repression and thousands detained, including five people arrested in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, on Friday, minutes after being interviewed by CNN journalists, according to witnesses.
The CNN team visited the “Ten Miles” bazaar in Insein municipality of Yangon, where they interviewed some local residents. Among the interviewees were two women who gave the protest salute with three fingers.
The pair were arrested by a group of security officials within three to five minutes after the CNN team left the area, according to witnesses.
Women work in a store at the market. They were taken to the Shwe Pyi Thar Interrogation Center, said a source close to them.
In a separate incident on Friday, the team interviewed residents of Yangon’s Mingaladon market. A man and a woman were arrested after the interview and another person managed to escape, according to an eyewitness.
A relative of the two Mingaladon detainees approached the CNN team and reported what had happened. She herself was arrested as soon as the journalists moved out of the area.
CNN contacted the Myanmar military for comment and was informed that the individuals had been released.
However, sources close to the detainees told CNN on Saturday that at least four women and one man are still being held at the Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation center.
The military junta in Myanmar has cut off all wireless internet services until further notice, in what appears to be a concerted effort to control communications and messages in the Southeast Asian country.
Pro-democracy protesters repeatedly filled the streets across the country for two months after the government was overthrown by the military.
The dismissed civil leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was accused on Thursday of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act, while security services sought to suppress the protests.
The human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that the junta had “forcibly disappeared hundreds of people” – including politicians, election officials, journalists, activists and protesters – since the coup.
According to the AAPP, at least 2,751 people, including journalists, protesters, activists, government officials, union members, writers, students, civilians and even children, were detained as of April 2, often in night operations.
CNN is in Myanmar with the permission of the military and is escorted by the military.
“We are aware of reports of arrests after our team visited Yangon, Myanmar yesterday,” said a CNN spokesman on Saturday.
“We are putting pressure on the authorities for information about this and for the safe release of all detainees.”