Myanmar marks first coup anniversary with silent strike

Yangon/Myanmar – The streets of Yangon Tuesday turned silent as the Burmese staged a nationwide strike to mark the first coup anniversary by the military junta that saw the overthrow of the Noble Prize winner Aung San Suu KY and her democratically elected cabinet on Feb 1s, 2021.

The military seized power and announced a one-year state of emergency.

The people of Myanmar have staged this silent strike to show their disapproval of the coup after exhausting all forms of anti-coup efforts.

Ma Rose, a participant in the strike, said the military would do everything in their power to stop the strike.

She said they would resort to threats and would exact retribution against shop owners who would fail to obey orders and open their shops on the day of the strike.

Rose told A24 News Agency that, through such movements, they aim to “show solidarity still with the Civil Disobedience Movement, those detained unfairly, fallen martyrs and all comrades who are in the jungle to have a military training to fight back the junta forces.”

She also pointed out that people will continue to participate in every kind of anti-coup movement and even if years passed that will not make them accept the new regime “their blood is still warm”.

She pointed out that people will continue to participate in every kind of anti-coup movement, adding that even after a year has passed, “their blood is still warm” and this will not make them accept the new regime.

“I want to say that the people of Myanmar oppose every kind of possible way of dictatorship since 1962 until now. This is just because the people know how their lives are under the military era,” said Ko Paing Ko, member of the anti-dictatorship movement committee.

“We will never be silenced; never remove our flag and we will continue,” he added.