Myanmar Sees Biggest Protest in Years as Coup Opposition Grows
Published Date: 2/8/2021
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
Protests continue in Myanmar’s financial capital of Yangon Monday as demonstrators defy Covid-19 stay-at-home orders after last week’s military coup. Myanmar saw its biggest protests in more than a decade on Sunday as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities calling for the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In Yangon, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in an area of the city’s downtown that has served as the staging ground for prior pro-democracy protests. The showing at Sule Pagoda, which has remained peaceful so far, marks the biggest protest there since the monk-led, anti-junta demonstrations in 2007 as part of the Saffron Revolution. “People need to continue to show their courage until the power-crazy military realizes they cannot win everything with weapons,” said Aung Kyaw Kyaw Oo, a lawmaker with Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party and one of the organizers of the “pots and pans” protests being held three times daily across the country. “We are not afraid of anything.” Footage of the demonstrations flooded social media as the military-run government restored internet access it had previously throttled. Earlier in the day, around 2,000 demonstrators gathered close to Yangon University chanting “Long live Mother Suu” and “Down with military dictatorship,” according to the Associated Press. Since taking power in a Feb. 1 coup, Myanmar’s generals have ordered telecom providers to block social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in a bid to curb dissent. One of two wholly foreign-owned telecommunications firms, Telenor Myanmar, announced Sunday afternoon that services had been restored. Suu Kyi, who has been held along with other senior leaders of her civilian government since the military takeover, has called on supporters to resist the generals. The military seized power after claiming, without showing evidence, that Suu Kyi’s 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. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm​ Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live​, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30​ Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg​ Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQu...​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake