YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – An information outage at the Myanmar military junta worsened on Thursday as fiber broadband, the latest legal way for ordinary people to access the internet, became intermittently inaccessible on several networks.
Authorities in some areas have also begun confiscating satellite dishes used to access international news broadcasts.
Protests against the February 1 coup that ousted the elected government in Aung San Suu Kyi continued on Thursday, despite the killing of 11 people by security forces a day earlier.
It was unclear whether Internet outages for at least two service providers, MBT and Infinite Networks, were temporary. MBT said its service was cut off by a line break between Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two largest cities. But internet users have been complaining in the last week of major service slowdowns.
The junta has gradually reduced internet service since the coup. Initially, it imposed a largely inefficient block of social media, such as Facebook, and then cut off the mobile data service, the most common way to connect to the Internet, but only at night. As the junta increased its use of deadly force against protesters, it also imposed a total ban on the use of mobile data.
At least 598 protesters and passers-by have been killed by security forces since taking over, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, which monitors victims and arrests.
The use of satellite television as a source of information also seemed to be under threat. In Laputta and other cities in the Irrawaddy Delta, southwest of Yangon, local government vehicles have announced through loudspeakers that it is no longer legal to use satellite dishes and that they must be handed over to police stations. Police also searched the shops selling the vessels and confiscated them.
Khit Thit Media and Mizzima online news services said similar measures had been taken in the southeastern state of Mon. Satellite television provides access to international news sources about Myanmar.
Since the coup, all non-state dailies have stopped publishing and online news sites have come under severe pressure. Five popular independent news services received their revoked operating licenses in early March and were told not to publish and broadcast on all platforms, but largely defied orders. Other agencies have been sued for their coverage.
About 30 journalists arrested in the coup remain detained. About half of them were charged with violating a law covering the flow of information that could affect national security or disrupt public order. The crime is punishable by up to three years in prison.
In an open letter to the junta this week, the New York Committee to Protect Journalists called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists detained after the suspension of democracy and the imposition of the February 1 emergency rule.”
The group said that since the takeover of the army, “the conditions of freedom of the press have deteriorated rapidly and drastically in your country. News reports show that journalists were beaten, shot and wounded by live bullets and arbitrarily arrested and charged by security forces, while dealing only with covering demonstrations and reducing retaliation against your regime. ”
Thursday’s protests included demonstrations in the southern commune of Launglone, where villagers sang songs and lit candles before dawn and then marched on rural roads in the southern city of Dawei, where engineers, teachers, students and others gathered. next to the latest demonstration.
Despite the eight assassinations committed by Dawei by security forces, opponents of the junta continued to protest in the streets, avoiding confrontations, varying the start hours of demonstrations and dividing them into smaller groups.
On Wednesday, security forces stormed the city of Kalay in northwestern Myanmar, where some residents had used house hunting rifles to form a self-defense force.
Security forces killed at least 11 civilians and injured many others, local news reported. Myanmar’s state-run Global New Light reported on Thursday that 18 people described as gun riots had been arrested but said nothing about civilian casualties.
UN workers on the ground have seen an alarming humanitarian impact due to escalating violence in northeastern and southeastern Myanmar in recent weeks, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.
In southeastern Kayin State and the Bago region, thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes due to military and airstrikes, as well as military clashes with ethnic guerrillas representing the Karen minority. In the northeast, clashes have displaced 3,000 people, while in northern Shan State, fighting has forced more than 8,000 people to flee their homes, Dujarric of New York said.
Diplomatically, Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN special envoy for Myanmar, who called for the restoration of democracy, is heading to Thailand this week and hopes to visit other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as China, she said. Dujarric.
Schraner Burgener called for a robust international response to the crisis and a unified effort by regional countries to use their influence on Myanmar’s stability, he said.
Schraner Burgener also continues efforts to visit Myanmar and hopes the military will give access to detained leaders, including President U Wint Myint and State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, Dujarric said.
Schraner Burgener is also ready “to resume dialogue with the military to contribute to a return to the democratic path, peace and stability of Myanmar,” he said.