Facebook is blocked as Myanmar tensions rise
MYANMAR’S new military government yesterday blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday’s coup surged with calls for civil disobedience to protest against the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Facebook is especially popular in Myanmar, and is how most citizens access the internet. Users of the social media platform said that service disruptions began late on Wednesday.
“Telecom providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block Facebook. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information,” Facebook said in a statement.
The military seized power shortly before a new session of Parliament was to convene on Monday, and detained Ms Suu Kyi and other top politicians. It said it acted because the government had refused to address its complaints that last November’s general election, in which Ms Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory, was marred by widespread voting irregularities. The state Election Commission has refuted the allegations.
About 70 recently elected lawmakers defied the new military government yesterday by convening a symbolic meeting of the parliament that was prevented from opening.
They signed their oaths of office at a government guest house in the capital, Naypyitaw, where about 400 of them were detained in the aftermath of the takeover. They have since been told they can return to their home districts.
The unofficial convening was a symbolic gesture to assert that they, not the military, are the country’s legitimate lawmakers. Some expressed their anger and their determination to resist the coup as they left the guest house. “This violates the human rights of the whole citizenry. This is not a coup. This is a treason against the government. I will have to say that this is state treason,” said Khin Soe Soe Kyi, a member of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.
The military declared a one-year state of emergency on Monday, and put all state powers into the hands of the junta, including legislative functions. It said that at the end of that period it will call an election and turn over power to the winners.
Anti-coup graffiti appeared in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, yesterday, with the slogan “Don’t want dictatorship” scrawled on a wall on a busy street. For a second night on
Wednesday, residents of Yangon conducted noise protests, banging pots and pans and honking car horns.
Yesterday, however, thousands of people in Naypyitaw joined a rally in support of the military coup, the latest of a number of events that aim to project an image of popular acceptance of the power grab.
Ms Suu Kyi remains highly popular. Her party said on Wednesday that she has been charged with possessing illegally imported walkietalkies – believed to be used by her bodyguards – that were found in her house,
The charge, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, allows her to be held in custody until at least February 15. Ms Suu Kyi is believed to under house arrest at her residence. Ousted President Win Myint is being held on a separate charge.