Tens of thousands rise up against coup in Myanmar

Tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Myanmar’s cities for three days as resistance against the takeover of the army increased last week.

Protesters are demanding that the outcome of the latest election be honored and that the civilian government be restored, following the military coup last week that led to the arrest of hundreds of pro-democracy leaders, including the country’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Monday, the biggest protests so far took place, with protesters scattering the streets in Yangon, the country’s largest city, and beyond. Reports point to a wide group of people joining the protests, from young activists to Buddhist monks to teachers and many more. Some activists called for a general strike this week, although it is not clear how widely the message spread, compared to the outbreak on the streets.

Many protesters wore red, the color of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which won an overwhelmingly popular mandate in the last election. Protesters held up three fingers in a salute – a symbol of resistance from the Hunger Games a franchise accepted by pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar and other countries in the region.

Groups held signs and sang slogans, and many demanded that Suu Kyi be released. The traffic growled as cars and buses slowed down while supporting trumpets.

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“We are young people fighting for democracy and against the military coup,” a 23-year-old Yangon protester told the Guardian. “They must release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and our president,” the protester continued, using a tribute often used by married and elderly women in Myanmar. “When the military cut off social media and the internet, that was the only thing we could do.”

This is a striking tone of defiance, especially given the history of the Myanmar army of violent repression against popular protest actions.

So far, the protests have been largely peaceful. The military also cut off Internet access on Saturday, though it was restored the next day. Police water cannons fired on demonstrators in the capital of Nanpyidaw in Myanmar. In Myawaddy, near the border with Thailand, shots were fired after officers tried to disperse a crowd.

But it is a soft balance, as trucks counter-protesters, who according to many people are sent in by the army, started arriving at the protests on Monday.

Wai Wai Nu, the founder and CEO of the Women’s Peace Network in Burma (a former name for Myanmar), said in a call to reporters on Monday morning that there were concerns about a clash or an attack on the pro democracy will be. protesters by the pro-military protesters. “This is a major concern for everyone in Myanmar,” she said.

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The Myanmar army has set a curfew in the townships of Yangon and Mandalay, another major city, on Monday. The restrictions prohibit gatherings of more than five people from 8pm to 4pm.

“Democracy can be destroyed if there is no discipline,” the Associated Press said in a statement. “We will have to take legal action to prevent acts that violate state stability, public safety and the rule of law.”

The protests are notable – but the future of Myanmar is still in doubt

The mass protests come a week after the Myanmar army ousted the civilian government, and even ended the facade of democracy in the country.

The military claimed he was forced to take action due to the large irregularities during the November parliamentary elections, in which Suu Kyi and her Party National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory and won 396 seats in parliament . Neither the country’s Union Electoral Commission nor international observers found evidence of widespread irregularities that would change the outcome of the vote.

The military has since arrested Suu Kyi and hundreds of members of her party, along with other activists and public figures. Some are being held on dubious charges; Suu Kyi, for example, is charged with smuggling illegal walkie-talkies. The army has said it will retain control for at least a year, after which it will hold new elections, under the auspices of a new ‘reformed’ electoral commission.

The Myanmar army has always retained significant control, despite the democratic reforms that began a decade ago and which enabled elections and a degree of civilian leadership. The coup even undermined that imperfect democracy. But the protests are a sign that many in Myanmar are refusing to return to the darkest days of military rule.

Activists are demanding the release of political prisoners and recognition of the outcome of the November election. Some are pushing for even greater demands, including the establishment of a true democracy by abolishing the 2008 constitution which largely controls the military.

Wai Wai Nu, the activist, said that civil society groups and activists are also calling for a ‘true democracy’. one that recognizes and includes Myanmar’s numerous ethnic and religious minority groups, many of whom are even excluded from Myanmar’s hybrid democratic system.

This includes groups such as the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group in the country of Rakhine. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh for atrocities and war crimes by the Myanmar army, calling the United Nations a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’.

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Rohingya activists have said they stand with pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar, even though they acknowledge that their persecution has continued despite democratic reforms, and led by Suu Kyi.

“As Rohingya, as a citizen of Burma, I am one who expresses solidarity, and I stand with the people of Burma, who are fighting for democracy,” said Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya organization UK. Called reporters on Monday, adding that he was pleased to see Rohingya join the protests, some of which did so from refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Activists are also looking outside to see how the international community can step up its fight for democracy, including through targeted sanctions against the military or an arms embargo. They also called for greater recognition of the Rohingya genocide, as many activists fear that thousands of Rohingya still living in the country could face greater prosecution with the full return of the army.

The United States and many of its allies condemned the coup. The Biden government has said it will review economic sanctions, but it has few options to really put pressure on the Myanmar army.

There are also restrictions on how much the international community can do, especially since China is more than happy to be with the Myanmar army. All this makes the protest against democracy as risky as ever. Yet for the time being, the people of Myanmar are still taking to the streets.