Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto the streets of Yangon Sunday in the biggest rally yet against the Myanmar coup, as an Internet blackout failed to stifle growing outrage at the military’s ouster of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Some estimates put the number of protesters in Yangon at 100,000 and there were reports of large demonstrations in other cities, with rallies condemning the coup that brought Myanmar’s 10-year experiment with democracy to a crashing halt.
Backed by a din of car horns, chanting protesters in Yangon held up banners saying “Justice for Myanmar,” while others waved the signature red flags of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party as they marched to City Hall. Many flashed the three-finger salute inspired by the “Hunger Games” films, which became a symbol of resistance during the pro-democracy protests in Thailand last year.
The surge in popular dissent over the weekend overcame a nationwide Internet blockade, similar in magnitude to an earlier shutdown that coincided with the arrest of Suu Kyi and other senior leaders. As protests gathered steam after the coup, the junta ordered telecom networks to freeze access to Facebook as well.
The coup has been widely condemned by the international community, with US President Joe Biden leading calls for the generals to relinquish power and release those arrested in the post-coup crackdown.
Some estimates put the number of protesters in Yangon at 100,000 and there were reports of large demonstrations in other cities, with rallies condemning the coup that brought Myanmar’s 10-year experiment with democracy to a crashing halt.
Backed by a din of car horns, chanting protesters in Yangon held up banners saying “Justice for Myanmar,” while others waved the signature red flags of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party as they marched to City Hall. Many flashed the three-finger salute inspired by the “Hunger Games” films, which became a symbol of resistance during the pro-democracy protests in Thailand last year.
The surge in popular dissent over the weekend overcame a nationwide Internet blockade, similar in magnitude to an earlier shutdown that coincided with the arrest of Suu Kyi and other senior leaders. As protests gathered steam after the coup, the junta ordered telecom networks to freeze access to Facebook as well.
The coup has been widely condemned by the international community, with US President Joe Biden leading calls for the generals to relinquish power and release those arrested in the post-coup crackdown.
