State killings provoke horror and fear of wider crackdown on determined protest movement
n Monday night at 8pm, the familiar, defiant sound of clashing pots and pans returned to the streets of Yangon. In the aftermath of last year’s coup, the same din was heard nightly as people demanded the return of democracy – until the military launched brutal crackdowns against any such acts of dissent. Anyone suspected of opposing the junta risks arrest, or worse.
Thet Swe Win, a 36-year-old human rights activist and an executive director of Synergy, an organisation which strives to foster social harmony in Myanmar, said he feared that there may now be a spate of executions. Dozens more prisoners have been sentenced to death. Ei Ei Moe, 33, is a member of Generation Wave, a movement co-founded by Phyo Zeya Thaw, whom she knew personally. She said he had always wanted the people to stay united.
Activist Ella Chris described Kyaw Min Yu, who rose to prominence as a student leader during the 1988 uprising against the previous military regime, as “an idol for the younger pro-democracy generation”. Before the coup, Ella Chris was an avid cyclist posting fitness videos on social media in between her work on gender equality and land rights. Like many involved in anti-coup protests, she was forced to flee her home. “But we are not afraid,” she said.
A Yangon-based group of resistance fighters under the national unity government, which was formed in exile by elected politicians, ethnic minority representatives and activists, also vowed to avenge their deaths. On Monday, guerrilla fighters in Yangon and Mandalay launched attacks at junta targets, while a flash protest in Yangon displayed a poster reading “we are never scared” before quickly dispersing to avoid arrest.
Activists continue even though they know they risking their lives, she added. “Not just our own lives, but it could also cost our own families’ lives, our friends’ lives,” she said. Even a critical comment on Facebook is risky.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Myanmar executions: US presses China to rein in junta, saying it cannot be ‘business as usual’State department says military government in Yangon has not faced enough economic and diplomatic pressure, amid global outrage at killings
Read more »
Myanmar executions: US presses China to rein in junta, saying it cannot be ‘business as usual’State department says military government in Yangon has not faced enough economic and diplomatic pressure, amid global outrage at killings
Read more »
Myanmar junta defends execution of democracy activists as 'justice for the people'The junta's spokesperson brushes off international condemnation of the executions and says the men were given due process. Malaysia says the executions are a crime against humanity.
Read more »
Myanmar junta executes democracy activists in first such killings in decadesDemocracy figures, including a former lawmaker in Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, executed after being accused of carrying out ‘terror acts’
Read more »
Wong joins world leaders in condemning Myanmar executionsPenny Wong has joined Amnesty International and leaders from France and the United States in condemning the Myanmar military's execution of four pro-democracy activists.
Read more »
‘I’m just not afraid’: Lynda Carter on her online activism and Wonder WomanIn the wake of the supreme court overturning Roe v Wade, Carter’s tweets have broken through: Wonder Woman has engaged with the discourse
Read more »