SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 8 November 2024, Friday |

Hundreds of Myanmar activists hold flash mob protest against military rule

On Thursday, over 400 pro-democracy activists flocked to the streets of downtown Yangon to organize one of the most recent anti-military demonstrations in Myanmar’s commercial hub and largest city.

Despite security forces’ efforts, more than four months after ousting Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government and arresting her and key members of her party in a coup, the military is still trying to maintain order.

“We gathered to the event today to show that we would not be ruled by them,” Zayar Lwin, an activist and former political prisoner who attended the demonstration, told Reuters.

Demonstrators in urban areas have had to become more nimble to avoid security forces, often using flash mobs that quickly disperse, after big rallies in the first months after the coup were frequently met with troops or police firing live rounds.

Zayar Lwin pledged that protests against the coup would continue, although he said it was now harder to organise them due to a heavy security presence in Yangon.

“The minimum risk is we could be arrested and the greatest danger is to be killed,” said the activist, who said only two people had been arrested at Thursday’s rally that lasted around five minutes.

Security forces have killed 842 people since the coup, according to figures from an activist group. The junta said last month the toll was nearer 300, including 47 police.

As well as in urban areas, the unrest has taken a heavy toll in the countryside, where clashes between Myanmar’s well-equipped military and ethnic minority armies or newly formed People’s Defence Forces have displaced tens of thousands of people.

    Source:
  • Reuters