Veteran activist calls for civil disobedience in wake of coup

Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 uprising, has urged the public to take a ‘no recognition, no participation’ approach to the new military regime

Published on Feb 3, 2021
Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 uprising.
Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 uprising.

One of the leaders of Myanmar’s 1988 pro-democracy uprising has released a statement calling on the public not to recognize the military council that seized power on Monday or participate in its newly appointed government.

Min Ko Naing, who spent most of his youth in prison for his resistance to previous military regimes, issued the call in a handwritten statement released on Tuesday.

 

 

“We can no longer be the slaves of military dictators, content with the pennies they spare us,” the 58-year-old former student leader wrote. “May we all live as human beings with our fundamental rights!”

The military seized power early Monday morning, just hours before the Lower House was set to convene and certify the results of last year’s November 8 election, which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide.

 

 

The NLD’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and President Win Myint were among dozens of lawmakers who were arrested in pre-dawn raids that also targeted dissidents and monks who took part in the 2007 Saffron Revolution.

Suu Kyi and Win Myint are both currently facing charges that could land them in prison for up to three years.

 

Soon after removing Win Myint as president, the military appointed its handpicked vice president, former general Myint Swe, to replace him.

As acting president, Myint Swe declared a one-year state of emergency and transferred power to the commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who now leads the newly formed State Administrative Council.

 

 

In a broadcast on the military-run Myawaddy television station, the new regime announced that general elections would be held a year from now, with power being handed over to the winning party.

The military claimed it had found over 10 million irregularities in voter lists used during last year’s election, which it said could have resulted in vote-rigging.

Eight of the 11 members of the new ruling council, which was formed on Tuesday, are from the military.

The three remaining members are Phado Man Nyein Maung, a former leading figure in the Karen National Union, and Thein Nyunt and Khin Maung Swe, former members of the NLD who split from the party to form the National Democratic Force in 2010.

Min Ko Naing’s call to reject the new council’s authority comes amid a growing civil disobedience movement by public servants and medical workers, who have vowed to stop working on Wednesday to protest the coup.

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

 

Residents of the compound said the incident was unprovoked and came nearly two hours after peaceful protests had ended for the day  

Published on Feb 18, 2021
Residents of a housing compound for railway workers in Mandalay show bullets fired into the compound by security forces late Wednesday night.

Soldiers and police fired into a housing compound for railway staff in Mandalay at around 9:45pm on Wednesday, according to a resident of the compound.

“They fired approximately 15 rounds of bullets,” the resident told Myanmar Now.

“We found live bullets and they also used tear gas. I don’t know who got injured. I am still hiding to protect my family,” he said.

Before the start of the nightly curfew at 8pm, a crowd of about 300 protesters gathered near Mandalay train station was dispersed by police without incident.

“We had already returned to our homes because of the curfew. They are doing this on purpose,” the source added.

Myanmar Now has been unable to confirm how many people, if any, were injured in the incident. 

On Monday, soldiers and police violently broke up a crowd of protesters in front of the Myanma Economic Bank in Mandalay by firing steel balls from air guns and slingshots.

Protesters had gathered in the area to urge bank staff to join a general strike aimed at toppling the military regime.

Security forces also shot into the homes of people who were watching the attacks from inside their houses and shops, according to a Myanmar Now reporter and other witnesses at the scene.

At least three people were injured and two arrested in the crackdown. A reporter was beaten and briefly detained, but released when he explained that he was a journalist. 

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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Crowds in Yangon and elsewhere are believed to be the largest yet as drivers block roads to prevent civil servants going to work 

Published on Feb 18, 2021
A mass rally in downtown Yangon on Wednesday against the military coup (Sai Zaw/Myanmar Now)

Hundreds of thousands marched in towns and cities across Myanmar on Wednesday in what was considered the largest day of demonstrations so far since the military staged its February 1 coup.  

The streets of downtown Yangon were flooded with people as protesters blocked traffic at major junctions around the city to prevent people from going to work and to keep out army and police vehicles. 

In an act of disobedience typical of the creativity and humour of the uprising against the new junta, drivers across the city - and elsewhere in the country - left their cars in the middle of roads with the hoods up and joked that their engines had broken down. 

People also used buses, taxis, trishaws and bicycles to block roads. 

In Shan state, drivers blocked the road leading to Muse, a major border trading zone with China, the Shan Herald reported. 

The crowds across the country were the movement’s answer to the junta’s claim at a press conference on Tuesday that 40 million out of Myanmar’s 54 million citizens supported the military. 

“Millions of people need to rally to prove the military wrong,” one protester said. 

People flocked to Sule Pagoda - the epicenter of the protests in Yangon - and blocked off the nearby intersection for hours while demanding the release of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi faces two charges that each carry sentences of up to three years while ousted president Win Myint faces a three-year sentence. 

Both are accused of violating Covid-19 regulations under the Natural Disaster Management Law while campaigning in last year’s election, while Suu Kyi has also been charged for illegally importing six walkie-talkies. Their next hearing is scheduled for March 1.

Students from the Yangon University of Computer Science, the University of Medicine, the University of Dental Medicine, and other universities joined the rally in downtown Yangon.

While there was a heavy police presence at Hledan junction and other rallying points, the response from police was muted compared to violent crackdowns seen during previous rallies.  

Hundreds gathered in front of the UN office in Yangon as some handed over a letter to a guard there addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

“When we win this fight, we will get back our elected government and the people’s power,” an activist told the crowd there. 

Hundreds of other people continued protests in front of the Central Bank of Myanmar office in Yankin township, urging employees there to stop going to work and join the civil disobedience movement. 

Demonstrators were confident the large show of resistance on Wednesday would inspire more people to join work stoppages and encourage those who already have. 

“Street rallies will encourage those civil servants who joined the civil disobedience movement,” said a protester who has quit his job at the Myanmar Port Authority in defiance of the regime. “It will make them feel they are not alone in this fight and that everyone is doing what they can to protest against the regime.”

“I grew up under the military regime,” another protester, who is ethnically Shan, told Myanmar Now. “I do not want the next generations to grow up with fear like we did.”

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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The six are among numerous entertainers who have joined recent protests and encouraged people not to work under the dictatorship 

Published on Feb 17, 2021

After seeking to quell resistance to its February 1 coup with nighttime arrests of trade unionists, activists and striking government employees, the regime has now turned its sights on celebrities.

Police have issued arrest warrants against six well-known entertainers who supported calls for people to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, the military’s True New Information Team said in a statement on Wednesday. 

They are the directors Wayne, Lu Min, Ko Pauk, and Na Gyi, the actor Pyay Ti Oo, and the singer Anagga. All six are wanted under section 505a of the Penal Code for encouraging civil servants to join a growing general strike aimed at hobbling the dictatorship.

They were among a group of artists and entertainers who joined anti-coup protests in Yangon over the past week. Lu Min joined a protest on Tuesday in front of the Central Bank of Myanmar office in Yangon calling on staff there to join the strike.

The State Administration Council recently amended section 505a to punish acts that encourage “disobedience” among government employees with up to three years in prison. 

None of six have been arrested yet. In its statement the regime appealed to the public to report their whereabouts to the police and said anyone who sheltered them would also be punished. 

They are not the first people in the entertainment industry to be targeted since the military seized power. 

Movie director Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, a well-known critic of the military even before the coup, was arrested in the early hours of February 1, at the same time as top government officials. 

He served a year in prison on a defamation charge after criticizing the military on Facebook in 2019. 

The regime has also filed a case against the singer Htwe Lin Ko, also known as Lin Lin, under section 505b of the penal code.

More than 400 people, including Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted president Win Myint, have been detained since the military took over. 

Despite the crackdown, nationwide protests against military rule continued unabated on Wednesday with massive protests in Yangon and around the country. Observers estimated that hundreds of thousands, or even millions, had taken to the streets.  

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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