After military coup, Myanmar activist group launches civil disobedience campaign

It was one of the first signs of specific action to oppose the coup

By
Reuters
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Myanmar army armoured vehicles drive past a street after they seized power in a coup in Mandalay, Myanmar February 2, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer
  • Yangon Youth Network launches civil disobedience campaign after army seized power
  • It is one of the first signs of specific action to oppose the coup
  • Government of elected leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was toppled by the military on Monday


One of Myanmar’s biggest activist group, the Yangon Youth Network said Tuesday that it had launched a civil disobedience campaign after the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

It was one of the first signs of specific action to oppose the coup.

“Yangon Youth Network... declared and urged CD (civil disobedience) as an immediate response,” a representative said on Twitter, noting that doctors at a hospital in Mandalay had also begun such a campaign.

The government of elected Myanmar leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was toppled by the military after she was arrested along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids on Monday.

Read more: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military stages coup

The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to "election fraud", handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station. 

The military spokesperson did not answer phone calls seeking further comment.

Phone lines to the capital Naypyitaw and the main commercial centre of Yangon were not reachable, and state TV went off air hours before parliament had been due to sit for the first time since the NLD's landslide election win in November, viewed as a referendum on Suu Kyi's fledgling democratic government.