(Reuters) – Opponents of military rule in Myanmar wrote protest messages on Easter eggs on Sunday, while others were back on the streets and facing security forces after a candlelit night killing hundreds since a Feb. 1 coup. .
In the latest in a series of impromptu shows of defiance, posts like “We must win” and “Get out MAH” – referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing – were seen on eggs in photos on social media.
“Easter is all about the future and the people of Myanmar have a great future in a federal democracy,” Dr. Sasa, international envoy to the deposed civilian government, said in a statement. Sasa is a member of the Christian minority in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Opponents of military rule have launched a civil disobedience campaign since the military overthrew Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, with creative expressions of resistance promoted on social media.
Young people in the main city of Yangon handed out eggs with the protest messages on them, photos showed in messages.
Crowds have returned to the streets day and night to reject the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy. Numerous candle-lit vigils took place at night.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group that monitors victims and arrests, said the death toll has risen to 557 since late Saturday.
Thousands of people left Mandalay’s second city, some on foot, others on motorcycles, to show their opposition, according to images on social media, before police and soldiers came in to disperse them.
Protesters also gathered in several other cities in the north, center, and south.
Police and a junta spokesperson did not answer calls asking for comment.
The AAPP said 2,658 people were in detention, including four women and a man who spoke to a visiting CNN news crew on the streets of the capital, Yangon last week.
A CNN spokesperson said the network was aware of reports of arrests following the team’s visit. “We urge the authorities to provide information on this and for the safe release of all detainees,” he said.
The military, which is running its own campaign to quell dissent, has ordered ISPs to cut wireless broadband, preventing most customers from accessing it.
Authorities have issued arrest warrants for nearly 40 celebrities known for opposing military rule, including social media influencers, singers and models, under a law against inciting dissent in the armed forces.
The charges, announced in the evening news bulletin of state television Friday and Saturday, could carry a three-year sentence.
‘CONSCIENCE CLEAR’
One of the defendants, blogger Thurein Hlaing Win, told Reuters he was shocked to see he was labeled a criminal and went into hiding.
‘I have not done anything bad or bad. I was on the side of the truth, ”he said over the phone from an unknown location. “When I am punished for that, my conscience is clear. My beliefs will not change. Everyone knows the truth. “
The military ruled the former British colony with an iron fist after seizing power in a coup d’état in 1962, until it began withdrawing from civilian politics a decade ago, freed Suu Kyi from years of house arrest and allowed an election that left her party in 2015 wiped.
It says it had to oust Suu Kyi’s government because an election in November, again easily won by her party, was rigged. The election committee has rejected the allegation.
But many in Myanmar, especially younger people who have come of age in the last decade, cannot accept the return of rule by the generals.
Suu Kyi is in custody and is charged with 14 years in prison. Her lawyer says the charges are fabricated.
The coup has also sparked clashes with autonomy-oriented ethnic minority forces who have announced support for the pro-democracy movement.
The Karen National Union, which signed a ceasefire in 2012, has seen the first military airstrikes on its forces in more than 20 years and says it must fight to defend itself against a government offensive.
The group said more than 12,000 villagers had fled their homes because of the air raids.
Fighting between the military and ethnic Kachin insurgents has also occurred in the north. Due to the unrest, thousands of refugees have fled to Thailand and India.
Suu Kyi’s party has vowed to establish a federal democracy, the main demand of the minority groups.
Reporting by Reuters personnel; Written by Robert Birsel; Edited by William Mallard and Kenneth Maxwell