Opponents of military rule in Myanmar staged a “silent strike” on Thursday as the country marked three years since the military coup that ousted the elected government of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The show of defiance against the junta, which said the previous day that it would extend a state of emergency for another six months, follows prolonged conflict between the military and pro-democracy resistance groups as well as ethnic minority militias.
Traffic was thin and few people were on the streets in Yangon when the strike began at 10am, with protesters having asked people to stay at home.
“The silent strike is the only way to convey my protest,” said a 17-year-old high school student, who said he had been arrested before when participating in an anti-military protest.
The military staged the coup on Feb 1, 2021, alleging widespread voter fraud in the 2020 general election in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s then-ruling National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory.
The democracy icon was detained and sentenced to a prison term of 33 years on 19 charges, including corruption. While the prison terms were reduced to 27 years last year, they are essentially a life sentence for the 78-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
With the latest extension of a state of emergency, the deadline for holding a general election to restore civilian rule will be pushed back to Feb 1 next year.
People outside of Myanmar also held protests Thursday and called for the return of democracy to the country.
In Bangkok, hundreds of protesters screamed and wept as they demonstrated outside the United Nations headquarters.
Young and old took part, wearing T-shirts showing Aung San Suu Kyi, with white flowers in their hair and red bandanas on their foreheads.
As Thai police looked on, the 300 or so demonstrators shouted anti-junta slogans and trampled bloodied images of Myanmar army leader Min Aung Hlaing.
Fake blood dripping from his head, clutching a sprig of green leaves, protester Tum Tum staged a dramatic performance representing a student killed by the army.
“We are here to protest because the military has been killing people,” he told AFP, his shirt wet with bright fake blood.
His demonstration drew livestreaming supporters, as banners behind him read: “We will fight until the end for this revolution, no rest.”
Red flags snapped in the breeze as demonstrators repeatedly raised the three-fingered salute that has become a symbol of anti-coup demonstrations.
“I have no home left as it burned down,” 29-year-old Kove told AFP, describing how military jets had bombed his people.
A Tokyo event held by Japanese lawmakers was attended by members of the Myanmar diaspora and a senior member of the National Unity Government (NUG), the Myanmar government-in-exile.
Win Myat Aye, the NUG minister for humanitarian affairs and disaster management, said the NUG and its ethnic minority allies have been on the offensive against the military and asked the international community to step up pressure against the junta.
“The spring revolution in Myanmar has reached a turning point,” Win Myat Aye said, referring to the three-year-old resistance movement. “This has opened a path for a victory by the people.”
The United States and seven other countries as well as the European Union issued a joint statement on Wednesday and condemned the military regime’s ongoing atrocities.
“The military’s actions have fuelled a growing humanitarian crisis with 2.6 million people displaced from their homes, and more than 18 million people in need,” the statement said, urging the military to immediately cease violence against civilians and to release all unjustly detained political prisoners.
Resistance to military rule intensified when three ethnic minority rebel groups launched a coordinated offensive in October, with the rebel groups claiming to have taken hundreds of army outposts and seized over a dozen strategic towns in the country’s northern region.
Together with offensives by other ethnic rebel groups and the NUG, the attacks have posed the biggest challenge to the military since the coup.
In the past three years, more than 4,400 opponents of the coup have been killed, with over 25,900 arrested and nearly 20,000 still being detained, according to the activist group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, based in Thailand.
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Protesters hold up portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi and raise three-finger salutes during a demonstration against the Myanmar military regime outside of the United Nations building in Bangkok on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters)
