Myanmar Protesters Defy Generals to March Against Military Coup

(Bloomberg) -- Protesters in Myanmar defied stay-at-home orders in the financial capital of Yangon and held more rallies against last week’s military coup as they called for the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Around 2,000 demonstrators gathered close to Yangon University on Sunday, chanting “Long live Mother Suu” and “Down with military dictatorship,” according to the Associated Press.

Myanmar’s military-run government has launched a crackdown to stifle dissent and curb communication, throttling internet access and ordering telecom providers to block Twitter and Instagram. Suu Kyi, who is being held along with other senior leaders of her civilian government last week, has called on supporters to resist the generals after being unseated in the Feb. 1 coup.

Myanmar Chokes Internet, Blocks Twitter Amid Anti-Coup Protests

The military seized power after claiming, without showing evidence, that her landslide victory in a November election was tainted with fraud. It pledged to hold a new election in the Southeast Asian nation after a yearlong state of emergency.

As fresh protests broke out, London-based internet monitor NetBlocks reported that Myanmar “remains in the midst of a nation-scale internet blackout with national connectivity flatlining at just 14% of ordinary levels.”

On Sunday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar called on the agency’s Human Rights Council to convene a special session on the “unfolding crisis” in the country.

In a post on Twitter, Tom Andrews, who is also a senior fellow at Yale Law School, urged the UN to hold the meeting on Myanmar immediately and called on nations to “exert maximum pressure on the military dictators who have seized power, including through the imposition of targeted sanctions.”

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed China on Friday to “join the international community in condemning the military coup,” while China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi reiterated the global community should create a favorable environment to solve the problem.

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