YANGON: Streets in some of Myanmar’s main cities were nearly deserted on Tuesday as opponents of military rule held “silent strikes”, making the first anniversary of a coup that sparked deadly chaos and snuffed out tentative steps towards democracy.
The United States, Britain and Canada imposed new sanctions on the military and joined other countries in calling for a global halt in arms sales to Myanmar, a year after Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government was overthrown.
Since its bloody suppression of protests in the weeks following the coup, the military has faced armed resistance on multiple fronts in the countryside from groups allied with the ousted government.
On Tuesday, an explosion took placed during a procession of military supporters in the eastern border town of Tachileik, two witnesses said. The blast killed two people, said one of the witnesses, and wounded more than 30 others.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing extended a state of emergency imposed at the time of the coup for a further six months, state media announced on Tuesday, amid threats from “internal and external saboteurs” and “terrorist attacks and destruction”.
Activists urged people to stay indoors and businesses to close on Tuesday in a silent show of defiance, despite warnings of arrests, jail and a seizure of businesses.
“We might be arrested and spend our life in jail if we’re lucky. We might be tortured and killed if we’re unlucky,” said youth activist Nan Lin.
Images on social media showed quiet streets in various cities including Mandalay, Magway, Myitkyina and Yangon, where pictures on a page put up by strike organisers later showed a small protest at which people threw red paint on the ground.
Pictures on an online portal and Telegram channel supportive of the military showed pro-junta rallies in the central town of Tase, and the capital, Naypyitaw, where thousands attended a rally, some dancing and holding aloft photographs of Min Aung Hlaing, with banners wishing him good health.
State media said the military was striving to hold an election when the country was “peaceful and stable”.
A military government spokesman did not respond to telephone calls seeking comment on Tuesday. — Reuters
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