As protests continue in Yangon and other cities, junta tries to isolate Myanmar

Pre-dawn rallies are held in Dawei, Yangon, Mandalay, and Kalo. In Naungcho (Shan State), vegetables, fish and other food are provided to the needy. The independent Tachileik agency is closed. Satellite television receivers are banned.

Yangon (AsiaNews) – Despite the ban on gatherings, despite the curfew imposed on the country starting on the first day of the military coup, protests continue every day in many cities.

To avoid attacks and sniper fire from the security forces, many gatherings take place at night or dawn.

Today, for example, a protest rally was held in the wee hours of the day in Dawei. Many young people held candles and laid flowers in front of the homes of those killed by the junta (picture 1).

Since it took place at 5 am on 5 May, today's action is dubbed the “555 protest”.

Smaller demonstrations took place in Yangon (picture 2) and at Yadanarbon University in Mandalay (picture 3). In Kale (Sagaing region), groups of demonstrators met in the morning for an “anti-regime strike”.

Civilians are now aware that they must avoid the violence by the military, who have the habit (and are under order) to use lethal force and shoot.

The Assistance Association for Political Refugees (AAPP), which provides up-to-date figures every day on those killed by name and situation, has reported the death of 766 people so far. Conversely, the junta, which considers the AAPP “illegal”, claims that “only” 248 people have died, plus 24 soldiers and policemen.

Either way, protest strikes and the pandemic have had a negative impact on the economy. According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the ranks of the poor in Myanmar have increased by 12 per cent as a result of the country’s deteriorating security situation following the coup d'état.

In several cities, such as Naungcho (Shan State), people have set up exchange points based on the principle “Take if you need, donate if you have extra”.  Such stalls display food bags, with portions of vegetables and fish, for those in need (picture 4)

Meanwhile, the junta appears to have shed some light on a bomb blast in Bago on Monday that killed five people, including a lawmaker with the National League for Democracy and three police officers who had jointed the civil disobedience movement.

Some military-controlled media claim that those killed were making a bomb, which went off while it was being built.

The attempt to get the media on its side is prompting the junta to arrest more and more journalists. At least 30 of them are behind bars, some of them foreigners.

Unable to block sources of news other than their own, the military is shutting them down. The latest is the independent Tachileik agency, based in Shan State, the eighth local agency to have its license revoked.

Yesterday, junta-controlled MRTV television announced again that satellite television receivers are banned. With the Internet jammed for several hours a day, the country is sliding back towards the isolation that prevailed before it embarked on democratic reforms 10 years ago.

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• burma
• military coup
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• media
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• protests