YANGON, MYANMAR (AP) – Thousands of people rallied on Sunday against the military takeover in Myanmar’s largest city, demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose elected government was overthrown by the military, which also imposed an internet outage.
Protest groups have grown stronger since Monday’s coup.
At least 2,000 union and student activists and members of the public chanted “Long live Mother Suu” and “Down with military dictatorship” at a major intersection near Yangon University. They marched along a highway and jerked around the traffic. Drivers honored their trumpet.
Police in riot blocked the main entrance to the university. Two water cannon trucks were parked nearby.
The protesters held placards calling for freedom for Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who were placed under house arrest and charged with minor offenses, and were considered by many to be a legitimate veneer for their detention.
On Saturday, new military authorities reduced most access to the Internet, making Twitter and Instagram inaccessible. Facebook was blocked earlier this week – though not entirely effective.
The US Embassy has called on the military to relinquish power and restore the democratically elected government, release the prisoners, lift all restrictions on telecommunications and refrain from violence.
“We support the right of the people of Myanmar to protest in support of the democratically elected government and their right to have free access to information,” it said in a tweet.
The communications blockade is a stark reminder of the progress Myanmar is in danger of losing after Monday’s coup plunged the country under direct military rule after a nearly decade-long move toward greater openness and democracy. During Myanmar’s previous five decades of military rule, the country was internationally isolated and communication with the outside world was strictly controlled.
Suu Kyi’s five years as leader since 2015 was Myanmar’s most democratic period despite the fact that the military broad forces maintained the continued use of oppressive laws from the colonial era and the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims of the minority.
Sunday’s rally took place a day after about 1,000 people – factory workers and students among them – marched in Yangon. They were met by more than 100 riot police.
No violence was reported. Similar demonstrations took place in at least two other areas of Yangon, as well as in Mandalay, the second largest city. At Yangon City Hall, protesters handed over flowers to police.
Nearly 300 elected lawmakers from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party would have taken their seats in a new parliament session last Monday after the November election, when the military announced it would rule for a year. take.
The military has accused Suu Kyi and her party of not damaging their complaints about the recent election through fraud, although the election commission said it had found no evidence to substantiate the claims.
The legislators met in an online meeting on Friday to declare themselves the sole legal representative of the people and to demand international recognition as the country’s government.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has promised that the United Nations will do everything in its power to unite the international community and to create the conditions to reverse the military coup in Myanmar.