Cities and towns across Myanmar have come to a standstill as people took part in a silent strike to signal defiance against the military junta on the anniversary of the 2021 coup.
Three years since the military detained political leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, its grip on power is more uncertain than at any point in the last six decades, according to analysts. The UN says two-thirds of the country is experiencing conflict.
Images taken by independent media on Thursday morning in Yangon showed normally busy intersections empty. Similar scenes were shared on social media from Mandalay, Mawlamyine and Monywa.
“Myanmar people don’t accept the military’s participation in politics, or their human rights violations,” said Nann Linn, a pro-democracy activist currently hiding in Myanmar. “That’s why there is no way other than the complete surrender of the military. We will accelerate our movement more.” The military coup had failed because the junta has been unable to govern, she added.
On the eve of the coup anniversary, the junta extended a state of emergency by six months, while the US announced further sanctions.
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, called for “sustained international and regional attention and coherent collective action to support the people of Myanmar”.
The coup, which has been strongly opposed by the public, provoked huge street rallies in 2021 that were brutally suppressed. Many people subsequently joined civilian defence forces to fight back against military oppression, fleeing to the jungle to train to fight, and receiving support from and fighting alongside older, ethnic armed groups seeking independence. Myanmar has since been gripped by spiralling conflict, leaving more than 2.6 million people internally displaced.
In October, an alliance of ethnic armed groups launched a new operation to seize junta territory, which resulted in humiliating defeats for the already overstretched military.
It has lost swathes of territory along the border with China, as well as on the other side of the country, in Chin and Rakhine states, and thousands of soldiers have surrendered. Progress by anti-junta groups elsewhere has been mixed.
“Three years on from the Myanmar coup, the military’s hold on power is more uncertain than at any time in the last 60 years,” said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser to Crisis Group. But, he added, the military seemed determined to fight on “and retains an enormous capacity for violence, attacking civilian populations and infrastructure in areas it has lost, using air power and long-range artillery”.
Rights experts have previously accused the military of committing war crimes, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians from aerial bombing, mass executions and the large-scale and intentional burning of homes.
On Wednesday, the junta head, Min Aung Hlaing, said the military would do “whatever it takes” to crush opposition. It has denied abuses against civilians, saying its operations were designed to tackle terrorists and in the interests of security.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained in the early hours of 1 February 2021, is serving a 33-year sentence over charges that have been widely dismissed as politically motivated. She has not been seen in public since, other than in images taken in a courtroom in Naypyidaw.
Her son Kim Aris, who lives in the UK, told Sky News he had received a letter from his mother in prison, the first communication he has had from her in three years. It said she was generally well but suffering from dental problems and spondylitis, a condition that inflames the joints of the backbone. The letter, which would have been read by the military, contained little detail.
Almost 20,000 political prisoners are detained across Myanmar, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a local monitoring group.
Ko Tayzar Sann, an activist in central Myanmar, said: “The main message that we would like to deliver is that the Myanmar people will never be cowed by the terrorising, power-stealing junta. We rang our bell to the whole world – including the military.”
He recalled the confusion on 1 February 2021, as news of the coup emerged. “We didn’t have phone line and internet, but we could confirm the news in the afternoon,” he said. “Everyone was sad and angry. No one accepted this action.”
Since then, lives have been turned upside down. “We have experienced the terrorist killings, torture and devastation carried out by the military,” he said. At the same time he had also seen the dedication and determination of the public to overthrow the military.
Many people were taking part in the silent strike, despite the military’s intimidation, Ko Tayzar Sann said. “What we have understood from these three years past, is that it is impossible for the military to rule or control the country. “The revolution side must prove that with action.”
