Another day under Myanmar military junta means another day of terror and more trauma for every civilian. Last night, before the internet shutdown, we saw reports of Myanmar military’s terrorist forces extremely cracking down on the residents of South Dagon township. They seemed to be the target of the military lackeys these days, and the security forces were adamant on traumatizing every resident of South Dagon last night. Nearby townships to South Dagon could hear the constant sound of flash grenades, and it was reported that the electricity was cut in some of the wards in the township. The shootings and home invasions continued way into the night, and we saw that around 28 people were allegedly shot to dead with many injured.
To support the residents of South Dagon, many other townships in Yangon turned up the noise by either hitting the pots and pans, or making a ruckus in their own township to draw attention away from the people who were being violently crackdown. While all of this was going on, the military lackeys also threatened the residents in many townships that if the people leave any tires or garbage on the road, they will be shot with live ammunition as March 30 is the ‘Garbage Strike’ day.
In the midst of violent crackdowns and threats, many people across the country still got up today with the intention to defy against the military junta. In Yangon, the residents of Thaketa township participated in the Garbage Strike by dumping the streets and junctions with garbage and sacks of trash in opposition of the military rule; Lanmadaw township showed their defiance with early morning sign-protest, and our brave Sanchaung residents also came out at dawn to peacefully protest. In Mandalay, we saw photos of the teachers and other staff from the Ministry of Education marching the streets, and the dawn sign-protest under the famous U Bein bridge in Amarapura. In Sagaing, many people were seen staging morning sit-down strikes in Kalay and massive crowds of protesters marching the streets of Yinmabin. Elsewhere, we can also see various forms of creative protests from the people-less protest in Kentung, Shan State to the youths of Dawei marching the streets to voice out their demands, to the motorbikes rally of CDM staff from the Ministry of Education from Kanbulu and Zigon townships in Sagaing, riding 110km.
You know what this means… it’s going to be 60 days of military coup, and despite the deadly crackdowns, Myanmar people are really not going to give up without a fight, and we are going to protest against the ruthless military rule until the power is restored where it belongs — the people.
There isn’t a day that the Myanmar military terrorists aren’t killing. This morning, The Northern Alliance EAO which consists of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Arakan Army (AA) released a joint statement that said if the military does not stop the killings, they will stand with the people in this revolution, meaning the ceasefires will be broken.
With the ethnic armed forces speaking out in support of the people, Myanmar military continued their vicious attacks on regions where the ethnic minorities are residing. More airstrikes in Karen State with many ethnic Karen villagers fleeing to the Thailand border, and airstrikes are beginning in Kachin State as well with the military attacking the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Battalion 11 yesterday. To make the matter worse, there were reports of Thai authorities forcibly turning back over 2000 ethnic Karen from entering Thailand. But later on, Thai authorities denied the news of repatriation and agreed to accept the refugees.
At the western border, the local government of Manipur, India, has withdrawn orders from the central government to reject refugees and declared that they will continue to provide aid and to the refugees fleeing from Myanmar.
The Myanmar military has been committing war crimes in ethnic minorities regions for years, and now they are using the same tactics in metropolitan cities, but with this coup, the unity of people is stronger than ever, and their crimes and human rights violations will be recorded and documented in masses now. In an interview with Democratic Voice of Burma on March 29, Dr. Sasa compared the terrorist military to be worse than ISIS group because of the number of children who died at the hands of Myanmar military terrorists.
It’s almost two months of living under Myanmar military regime. It’s been 44 days of scheduled internet shutdown at 1am, and 15 days of mobile internet cut off.
In downtown Yangon, there is a heavier presence of the troops, and not going to lie, we are all scared. We are all living with night terrors. People are worried about potential deadlier crackdown across the country as well. But with everything going on, the more they suppress the people, the more people will strike. And that’s not just a slogan that people are using. That’s a fact now.
