Rangoon, Burma.
Several thousand Burmese protested On Saturday, in the streets of Yangon, in the largest rally since the coup d’état against Aung San Suu Kyi and in an attempt to silence these dissident voices, military officials blocked access to the Internet and continued to imprison opponents.
The last reported arrest is that of a Australian, Sean Turnell, 75, who worked as an economic adviser to former de facto head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi, and who told the BBC he was being held in Burma. If confirmed, it would be the first arrest of a foreigner since the coup.
In Yangon, the country’s economic capital, some 3,000 people, many of them young, protested Saturday at a university wearing red masks, scarves and bracelets in the color of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung’s party. San Suu. Kyi, arrested Monday.
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“Down with the military dictatorship,” the protesters, waving NLD flags and saluting with three raised fingers, shouted now in a gesture of resistance. “We are here to fight for the new generation, to free them from the military dictatorship,” one of the protesters told AFP.
Internet disappears
At the same time, censorship continues and the country registered significant cuts to Internet services across the country on Saturday, according to watchdog NGO NetBlocks.
Telenor, one of the country’s leading telecom operators based in Norway, confirmed that authorities had ordered the blocking of Twitter and Instagram on Friday “until further notice”.
On Wednesday, Facebook, a social network that serves as an internet gateway for millions of Burmese, was blocked. Facebook services, such as the WhatsApp messaging network, are also experiencing disruptions and many users try to overcome this obstacle with VPN connections.
The goal is to try to silence the opponents, who are very active on social networks, where the hashtags #WeNeedDemocracy, #HeartheVoiceofMyanmar or #Freedomfromfear are multiplying, calling for democracy, freedom and urging the world to move to to listen to the voice of the Burmese.
The country’s citizens are “in a situation of absolute insecurity,” complains Amnesty International’s Ming Yu Hah.
The international weight
The international community continues to see Burma as one of the priorities. Last Saturday, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called on the Burmese military and the police to guarantee the right to peaceful demonstrations and not to retaliate against those who protest.
“Internet and communication services must be restored to ensure freedom of expression and access to information,” he asked in a post on Twitter.
The HEM-HER-IT, through Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener, has already been in contact with the Burmese military for the first time since the coup, Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Friday, pushing for his call for the release of civilian leaders.
The European Union (EU) and the United States, for their part, have threatened sanctions since the coup was ratified. China remains Burma’s main supporter at the United Nations, where it opposed any initiative against the military during the Rohingya Muslim crisis.
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In the country, and despite fears of reprisals, as happened during the bloody repression of 1988 and 2007, hundreds of teachers and students take to the streets every day. On Friday, dozens of officials suspended work in various ministries and 300 deputies organized a telematics session to denounce the takeover of parliament.
In total, about 150 political leaders and militants have been detained since the coup, including Win Htein, a 79-year-old adviser very close to Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, which is based in Rangoon. .
The coup also has supporters in the country, as evidenced by the hundreds of people who gathered in the capital Naipyidó on Thursday in support of the new military authorities. The head of the army, Min Aung Hlaingconcentrating practically all powers, justified the coup because of the alleged fraud registered in the November legislature that the LND won by a large majority.
In reality, the generals fear their influence will diminish after the victory of the NLD, which could have reformed the constitution, which is highly beneficial to the military, analysts estimate. Aung San Suu Kyi is charged with violating a business law and is under house arrest in the Burmese capital, a NLD spokesman said.
The daughter of a murdered independence hero, she has been revered in her country since she assumed leadership of the democratic opposition for the junta in 1988 and spent 15 years in guarded residence. His image in the world had deteriorated due to his inaction during the crisis of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority who suffered brutal military persecution in Burma.