The normally bustling streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, were eerily quiet on February 1 as the country marked the second anniversary of a coup that deposed democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and installed a military government. Pro-democracy activists urged citizens to stay off the streets and close their businesses to silently show their opposition to the military junta, which has been accused of numerous human rights abuses since the coup.
Since the coup, Burmese citizens have held widespread protests in face of severe repression by security forces. Protesters have been shot at, entire villages have been forced to flee into the forests, and towns have been burned to the ground. The military government has described opposition groups, such as the armed anti-coup People’s Defence Forces, as “terrorists”.
