Bangkok, Dec 10, (dpa/GNA) Protesters in Myanmar launched a “silent strike” nationwide on Friday, which shut down businesses and emptied the streets in their latest attempt to defy the coup, according to local news outlets and participants.
“We all participated together and it shows how we hate them.” Kaung Satt, a 25-year-old man from Yangon who closed his tea shop to join the protest, told dpa.
Streets were deserted in many cities, and few vehicles were seen in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Reports indicated that nationwide activities were successful.
“We need to send a message to the world that Myanmar’s human rights violations are at the worst,” a protest leader, Khin Sandar, told local media.
“Silence is the loudest shout. We want our rights back. We want to win the revolution. We express sadness to the fallen heroes,” she explained.
Protest leaders called on people to conduct silent strikes from 10 am to 4 pm on Friday, but almost everything shut down early in the day.
Many artworks and graphics were displayed to support the silent strikes.
Similar strikes were also held in March following the coup a month earlier, and people also stayed home and refused to take part in any activities.
“Now it has been eleven months. The people from our whole country have tried so many ways to win the revolution and we deserve to win,” Minn Khant Kyaw Linn, a Student Union activist from GSCB (General Strikes Collaboration Body), said of the silent strike.
The military in the South-East Asian country staged a coup on February 1 and ousted the civilian head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Since then, Myanmar has been plunged into chaos and violence. The Myanmar military has been launching brutal attacks and raids on protesters and civilians across the country to stop the anti-coup activities.
According to rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners which documents the killings and human rights violations, at least 1,300 people were killed, and more than 10,000 people were arrested since the coup.
GNA