Security officials responded to the dissent with brutal repression and detained thousands, including five people arrested in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon on Friday, minutes after they were interviewed by CNN reporters, according to eyewitnesses.
The CNN team visited the “Ten Miles” bazaar in Insein commune in Yangon, where they interviewed some residents. Among the interviewees were two women who raised the protest salute with three fingers.
The pair were arrested by a group of security officials within three to five minutes of the CNN team leaving the area, according to eyewitnesses.
Women work in a market store. They were taken to the Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation center, a source close to them said.
On Friday, in a separate incident, the team interviewed residents of Yangon’s Mingaladon Square. A man and a woman were arrested after the interview and another person managed to escape, according to an eyewitness.
A relative of the two Mingaladon detainees approached the CNN team and told them what had happened. She herself was arrested once the journalists left the area.
CNN contacted the Myanmar army for comment and was told that the people had been released.
However, sources close to the detainees told CNN on Saturday that at least four women and a man are still being held at the Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation center.
The military junta in Myanmar has cut off all wireless internet services until further notice, in what appears to be a concerted effort to control communications and messaging in the Southeast Asian country.
Pro-democracy protesters repeatedly filled the streets across the nation for two months after the government was overthrown by the military.
Arrested civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was charged on Thursday with violating the law on official secrets in the country, while security services sought to thwart the protests.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that the junta had “forcibly disappeared hundreds of people” – including politicians, election officials, journalists, activists and protesters – since the coup.
According to the AAPP, at least 2,751 people, including journalists, protesters, activists, government officials, trade unionists, writers, students, civilians and even children, have been detained since April 2, often in night raids.
CNN is in Myanmar with the permission of the military and is escorted by the military.
“We are aware of reports of arrests following our team’s visit to Yangon, Myanmar yesterday,” a CNN spokesman said on Saturday.
“We are pressing the authorities for information on this and for the safe release of any detainee.”