Days after Myanmar’s military deposed the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, civil disobedience movement are sprouting up across the country.
As many political leaders remain in the detention unions and student have joined boycotts and protest called for their release.
“Military dictator, fail, fail; Democracy, win, win,” chanted the crowd, the largest protest seen since the military took over.
Dozens of police, some in riot gear, had initially attempted to block the protest route, forcing the crowd to change direction. Witnesses describe the crowd expanding in size, before appearing to disperse after several hours.
A number of smaller, scattered protests remain ongoing. At Yangon University, several hundred mostly young people have gathered and continue to chant.
Police in riot gear are present, but traffic is moving through the area and the road blocks previously set up by police are gone.
On Friday evening, Telenor, one of the country’s main internet providers, confirmed it had been ordered to deny access to the two sites “until further notice”.
The coup leaders blocked Facebook on Thursday for the sake of “stability”.
And on Saturday, unconfirmed reports emerged of a total internet shutdown.
Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest, according to her lawyer. Police documents show she is accused of illegally importing and using communications equipment – walkie-talkies – at her home in Nay Pyi Taw.
In a television address, the army announced that power had been handed to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and that it was declaring a national state of emergency for one year.
The march came as Myanmar was plunged into its second nationwide internet blackout this week, similar in magnitude to an earlier shutdown that coincided with the arrest of Suu Kyi and other senior leaders on Monday.
Those dawn raids brought a sudden halt to Myanmar’s brief 10-year experiment with democracy, and catalysed an outpouring of fury that has migrated from social media to the streets.
Online calls to protest the army takeover have prompted increasingly bold displays of defiance against the new regime, including the nightly deafening clamour of people around the country banging pots and pans — a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Friday that: “We will do everything we can to make the international community united in making sure that conditions are created for this coup to be reversed.”
His comment came after a UN special envoy made first contact with Myanmar’s deputy military commander and had urged the junta to step down and return power to the civilian government.
State media in the country reported on Saturday that military officials had met with the diplomats and asked them to work with the country’s new leaders.
