Vow to boycott festivities

ANTI-COUP protesters turned Myanmar’s New Year festival of Thingyan into a rallying point yesterday, painting pro-democracy messages on traditional clay pots and collecting flowers.

Myanmar is in chaos and its economy paralysed since the military seized power from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.

A junta crackdown against dissent has resulted in the civilian death toll reaching at least 710 as of late Monday including 50 children, according to a local monitoring group.

Many in the anti-coup protest movement have vowed to boycott water fight celebrations for the Thingyan festival, with some saying it would be disrespectful to have fun when so many have lost their lives and nearly 3 000 people are detained.

Last year’s festivities were also called off because of pandemic restrictions.

Protesters in parts of Yangon, Monywa and Bago painted traditional Thingyan pots with pro-democracy messages yesterday before placing them on streets with flowers inside.

“Fight for democracy,” a sign sticking out of a line of pots said in one Yangon township.

Other pots said “Never give up”. “We are not having normal celebrations. Even though it is festival time right now, we cannot have fun. We will not be happy until this dictator is overthrown and we will revolt until then,” a university student in Mandalay said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the danger of arrest.

Another protester named Ray in Yangon said the pots were a way to welcome the new year and “honour fallen heroes”.

“There will be a whole itinerary of things to do in the coming five days to show that we are against this dictatorship happening in Myanmar and that we will keep fighting for democracy,” he said.

In Mandalay – Myanmar’s cultural hub – people placed the pots and flowers on a golden stupa, with signs showing the three-fingered salute that has become a symbol of the resistance movement.

Young people in Mawlamyine, the fourth largest city, took to the streets early yesterday while people marched with pots and flowers in the city of Dawei and small towns in Shan and Kachin states. Meanwhile, security forces found and defused a bomb beneath the Myaynigone bridge in Yangon, a police source said.