YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s new military government has blocked access to Facebook because resistance to Monday’s coup was strong amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the expulsion of the elected civilian government and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Facebook is especially popular in Myanmar and the deposed government has regularly made public announcements on the social media site.
Internet users said the outage began late Wednesday night, and mobile service provider Telenor Myanmar confirmed in a statement that cell phone operators and Internet service providers in Myanmar had received an order from the Ministry of Communications to temporarily block Facebook.
Telenor Myanmar, which is part of the Norwegian Telenor group, said it would comply, although it was concerned that the order was a violation of human rights.
‘Telecommunications providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block Facebook. “We call on the authorities to reconnect so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and gain access to important information,” a Facebook spokesman said.
The political party that drove out Monday’s coup, and other activists in Myanmar, have called for a campaign of civil disobedience to oppose the takeover. In the vanguard are medical personnel who have declared that they will not work for the military government and who are highly respected for their work during the coronavirus pandemic that is burdening the country’s dangerously inadequate health system.
Yangon residents took part in a second night of ‘noise protests’ on Wednesday, with people pounding pots and pans and honking car horns under cover of darkness. And the recent protests have revived a song closely linked to the failed uprising against military dictatorship in 1988. Myanmar was under military rule for five decades after a 1962 coup, and Suu Kyi’s five years as leader is the most democratic period .
On videos posted on social media, medical staff showed in particular the song “Kabar Makyay Bu” – or “We will not be satisfied until the end of the world” is sung – which is sung to the tune of “Dust in the Wind, a 1977 song by American rock band Kansas.
The protest movement appears to have received a boost from the government’s treatment of the hugely popular Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other government leaders on Monday. Her party said on Wednesday she was charged with possession of illegally imported walkie-talkies – allegedly used by her bodyguards – found in her home in the capital Naypyitaw.
The charge will allow her to remain legally in custody until at least February 15. Deposed President Win Myint is being held on a separate charge. Suu Kyi apparently remains under house arrest at her residence, where she was detained after the army detained her.
The charge against Suu Kyi was up to three years in prison.