Rangoon, Burma.
A few thousand The Burmese protested on the streets of Yangon on Saturday, in the largest demonstration since the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi, and in an attempt to silence these dissident voices, military officials blocked internet access and continued to detain detractors.
The last reported arrest is that of a Australian, Sean TurnellThe 75-year-old, who worked as an economic adviser to former de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi, told the BBC he was detained in Burma. If confirmed, it would be the first arrest of a foreigner since the coup.
In Yangon, the country’s economic capital, about 3,000 people, many of them young, protested on Saturday near a university wearing red masks, scarves and bracelets, the color of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu’s party. arrested Monday.
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“Down with the military dictatorship,” shouted the protesters, waving NLD flags and waving three fingers, now a gesture of resistance. “We are here to fight for the new generation, to free them from military dictatorship,” one of the protesters told AFP.
Internet discounts
At the same time, censorship continues, and the country on Saturday saw significant reductions in internet services across the country, according to the NGO NetBlocks.
Telenor, one of the main telecommunications operators in the country, based in Norway, confirmed that the authorities ordered on Friday the blocking of Twitter and Instagram “until a new notification”.
On Wednesday, Facebook, a social network that serves as an internet gateway for millions of Burmese, was blocked. Facebook services, such as the WhatsApp messaging network, are also experiencing disruption, and many users are trying to overcome this hurdle with VPN connections.
The goal is to try to silence opponents, who are very active on social networks, where the hashtags #WeNeedDemocracy, #HeartheVoiceofMyanmar or #Freedomfromfear are multiplying, demanding democracy, freedom and urging the world to listen to the voice of Burmese.
The country’s citizens are “in a situation of absolute uncertainty,” laments Ming Yu Hah of Amnesty International.
International weight
The international community continues to have Burma among its priorities. On Saturday, the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on “the Burmese army and police to guarantee the right to peaceful demonstrations and not to retaliate against protesters.”
“The Internet and communications services need to be restored to guarantee freedom of expression and access to information,” he said in a Twitter message.
EL-HER-IT, through Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener, has already had first contact with the Burmese army since the coup, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday, insisting on his demands for the release of civilian leaders.
For their part, the European Union (EU) and the United States have threatened sanctions following the confirmation of the coup. China remains Burma’s main supporter of the United Nations, where it opposed any initiative against the army during the Rohingya Muslim crisis.
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Inside the country and despite the fear of reprisals, as happened in the bloody repressions of 1988 and 2007, hundreds of teachers and students take to the streets every day. On Friday, dozens of officials suspended work in various ministries and 300 deputies organized a telematic session to denounce the takeover of Parliament.
In all, about 150 political leaders and activists were detained from the coup, including Win Htein, a 79-year-old adviser very close to Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the Rangoon-based Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners. .
The coup also has supporters in the country, as evidenced by the hundreds of people gathered on Thursday in the capital Naipyidó, in support of the new military authorities. Army Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, which concentrates almost all powers, justified the coup because of the alleged fraud registered in the November legislatures and which LND won by a large majority.
In reality, the generals fear that their influence will diminish after the victory of the NLD, which might have wanted to reform the Constitution, which is very favorable to the military, analysts estimate. Aung San Suu Kyi is accused of violating a business law and is under house arrest in the Burmese capital, according to an NLD spokesman.
The daughter of a murdered independence hero, she has been revered in her country since she took over the leadership of the democratic opposition in front of the junta in 1988, spending 15 years in a guarded residence. His image had deteriorated around the world due to his passivity in the Rohingya crisis, a Muslim minority victim of brutal military persecution in Burma.