Yangon: Myanmar’s junta marked one year in power on Tuesday despite fresh foreign sanctions as demonstrators promised to rally against the army and its bloody crackdown.
The military takeover ending the Southeast Asian country’s brief democratic interlude has triggered mass protests and a crackdown on dissent with more than 1,500 civilians killed, according to a local monitoring group.
The junta is struggling to contain the backlash unleashed by the coup, with daily clashes and swathes of the country remaining outside of its control.
In comments published Tuesday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing repeated the military’s claim it had been forced to take power following fraud in 2020 elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party that international observers said were largely free and fair.
It would hold “free and fair” polls by August 2023 if stability in the country is restored, he told the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
The streets of commercial hub Yangon were busy Tuesday morning, AFP correspondents said, as residents ran errands and met friends ahead of a “silent strike” protest expected to begin around 10 am local time.
A similar strike in December emptied the streets of cities and towns across the country.
On Tuesday morning images on local media showed around a dozen young protesters gathering in a flashmob in Yangon, unfurling a pro-democracy banner and setting off a flare.
Ahead of the anniversary, the junta has threatened to seize businesses that shutter their doors and warned that noisy rallies or sharing anti-military “propaganda” could lead to treason or terrorism charges.
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