Myanmar blocks Facebook as resistance grows to military coup

Myanmar's new military government has blocked access to Facebook in the nation.

The move comes amid growing calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook users said service disruptions began late Wednesday night.

"Telecom providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block Facebook. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information," Facebook said in a statement.

The military seized power shortly before a new session of Parliament was to convene on Monday and detained Ms Suu Kyi and other top politicians.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said at least 147 people have been detained, including activists, lawmakers and officials from the ousted government.

The military said it acted because the government refused to address allegations of widespread voting irregularities in last November's general election.

Suu Kyi's party won the election in a landslide victory.

The state Election Commission has refuted claims of voter fraud.

Parliamentarians defy military orders

About 70 recently elected politicians defied the new military government on Thursday by convening a symbolic meeting of the Parliament that was prevented from opening.

They signed their oaths of office at a government guesthouse in the capital, Naypyitaw.

Some expressed their anger and their determination to resist the coup as they left.

The military declared a one-year state of emergency and put all state powers into the hands of the junta, including legislative functions.

It said that at the end of that period it will call an election and turn over power to the winner.

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Anti-coup graffiti appeared in Yangon, the country's biggest city, with the slogan "Don't want dictatorship"' scrawled on a wall on a busy street.

Medical personnel have declared they won't work for the military government.

For a second night Wednesday, residents of Yangon conducted noisy protests, banging pots and pans and honking car horns.

Videos posted on social media showed medical personnel and others singing "Kabar Makyay Bu" — or "We Won't Be Satisfied Until the End of the World" — sung to the tune of "Dust in the Wind," a 1977 song by the US rock group Kansas.

Thousands of people in the capital joined a rally in support of the military coup on Thursday, the latest of a number of events that aim to project an image of popular acceptance of the power grab.

Crisis could become humanitarian disaster

Ms Suu Kyi remains highly popular. Her party said Wednesday that she has been charged with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies — believed to be used by her bodyguards — that were found in her house.

The charge, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, allows her to be held in custody until at least February 15.

Ousted President Win Myint is being held on a separate charge.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian group, said Myanmar's political crisis could create a humanitarian disaster affecting 1 million vulnerable people if international aid groups are restricted further.

In 2018, Facebook removed several accounts linked to Myanmar's military, including that of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the officer who led this week's coup, following complaints that they appeared to fuel hatred toward the country's Muslim Rohingya minority.

The Rohingya were targeted in a brutal 2017 army counterinsurgency campaign that drove more than 700,000 to neighbouring Bangladesh. Critics say the army's actions constituted genocide.

AP