The attacks are justified in the name of self-defense, opponents of the military rulers say. Young voices demanding democracy and civil liberties in Asia have been suppressed by corruption, growing inequality and the widening influence of a repressive China.
What started as a nonviolent struggle inspired by Suu Kyi has morphed into a nationwide campaign of armed resistance, highlighted by last week’s call for a popular uprising by the National Unity Government, a group of deposed civilian leaders claiming to be the country’s legitimate representatives.Ĭhased and jailed: No rest and much danger for Asia’s young revolutionaries The takeover triggered massive protests that the Tatmadaw quelled with deadly force, calling the demonstrators violent criminals.
The coup ended a decade of democratic reforms in Myanmar, which had been under a military dictatorship for nearly 50 years. Independent observers say there was no evidence of voting irregularities. 8, 2020, general elections in which the Tatmadaw’s proxy political party was soundly defeated by the ruling National League for Democracy party led by the now- detained Aung San Suu Kyi. The military has justified its takeover by claiming widespread voter fraud in the Nov. The groups have collectively launched hundreds of attacks across the country, strikes that include detonating improvised explosive devices, ambushing military convoys and destroying state-owned telecommunications towers, according to analysts and local news reports. It has unsettled residents with surprise nighttime raids, detained many young people who make up the core of the protest and resistance movements and caused the disappearances of many people suspected of working with underground rebels. The military has responded by sealing off neighborhoods for hours to hunt down suspects. In recent weeks, militia members have gunned down six police officers in the back of a train, injured five soldiers after tossing a bomb into a military truck and shot and killed a junta-supporting ward boss in his home. The explosions ring out in Yangon as urban guerrillas step up their attacks on the security forces and their suspected informants. 1 takeover and brutal crackdown on dissent that activists say has resulted in more than 1,100 civilian deaths. Now, the thud of bomb blasts marks the defiance against the military, known as the Tatmadaw, since its Feb. Months ago, the banging of pots and pans each night by residents of Myanmar’s largest city symbolized resistance to the military coup that deposed the country’s elected government.