Myanmar junta cuts off internet and deploys more troops as anti-coup protests increase

Myanmar’s junta deployed extra troops around the country and choked the internet on Monday as it intensified a crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets.

The military has steadily escalated efforts to quell an uprising against their seizure of power two weeks ago, which saw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained along with hundreds, including members of her democratically elected government.

The generals imposed an hours-long internet shutdown on Monday morning and ratcheted up the military’s presence across the country overnight, including armoured vehicles in Yangon, the nation’s commercial hub and biggest city.

But fresh protests again flared in the city, including near the central bank where troops were deployed.

“Patrolling with armoured vehicles means they are threatening people,” said 46-year-old Nyein Moe, among the more than one thousand gathered in front of the bank.

“People are marching on the streets and they don’t care to be arrested or shot. We can’t stop now. The fear in our mind is going away.”

Hundreds of engineering and technology students also protested in a northern district of Yangon, according to an AFP journalist.

There was a fresh rally in the southern city of Dawei too, a verified live stream on Facebook showed, with hundreds of protesters accompanied by a marching band.

Some carried banners against the military that read: “They kill in (the) day. They steal at night. They lie on TV.”

Protesters also came out in large numbers in the capital Naypyidaw and the second-biggest city Mandalay.

Monitoring group NetBlocks reported that a “state-ordered information blackout” had taken Myanmar almost entirely offline early Monday.

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Internet connectivity was later restored around the start of the working day, with Netblocks saying the blackout lasted around eight hours.

But the monitor noted that most users in Myanmar were still barred from social media.

– Declaration of war –

Intensifying fears the military was going to impose a far harsher crackdown, troops in the northern city of Myitkyina fired tear gas then shot at a crowd on Sunday night.

A journalist at the scene said it was unclear whether police had used rubber bullets or live rounds.

Local media outlets said at least five journalists monitoring the protest were detained and released on Monday.

They also published pictures of some people wounded in the incident.

A joint statement from the US, British and European Union ambassadors urged security forces not to harm civilians.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed that call. Through his spokesman, he also asked the military to “urgently” allow Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener to visit Myanmar “to assess the situation first hand”.

The US embassy advised American citizens to shelter in place and not risk defying an overnight curfew imposed by the regime.

UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews said the junta’s efforts to rein in the burgeoning protest movement was a sign of “desperation” and amounted to a declaration of war against its people.

“Attention generals: You WILL be held accountable,” he tweeted.

Much of the country has been in uproar since soldiers detained Aung San Suu Kyi and her top political allies on February 1, ending a decade-old fledgling democracy after generations of junta rule.

The Nobel laureate spent years under house arrest during an earlier dictatorship and has not been seen in public since she was detained.

Suu Kyi’s custody period was expected to expire today, but her lawyer said Monday that she has been remanded until February 17, citing a judge.

An internet blackout last weekend failed to quell resistance that has seen huge crowds throng big urban centres and isolated frontier villages alike.

Striking workers who spearheaded the campaign are among at least 400 people to have been detained since the coup, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

READ NEXT: Governments around the world condemn Myanmar’s military coup

– ‘We don’t trust anyone’ –

Fear of arrest did not deter big crowds from returning to streets around the country for a ninth straight day of street protests on Sunday.

In Dawei, seven police officers broke ranks to join anti-coup protesters, mirroring local media reports of isolated defections from the force in recent days.

Parts of the country have in recent days formed neighbourhood watch brigades to prevent the arrests of residents joining the civil disobedience movement.

“We don’t trust anyone at this time, especially those with uniforms,” said Myo Ko Ko, member of a street patrol in Yangon.

The country’s new military leadership has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation.

The junta insists it took power lawfully and has instructed journalists in the country not to refer to it as a government that took power in a coup.

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