Myanmar’s junta has imposed a second straight overnight internet
shutdown on Tuesday in efforts to control the anti-coup rallies, AFP reported. The
military has been resorting to use increasing force, firing rubber bullets in
Mandalay, to crush the nationwide protests that have brought people to the
streets as they fight the ousting of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A
disobedience campaign has been launched by the general public encouraging civil
servants to take a stand.
“They shut down the internet because they want to do bad
things,” said 44-year-old Win Tun, a resident of commercial capital
Yangon.
The internet shutdown came after Yangon saw another spark of protests in
defiance of armoured vehicles and troop convoys stationed around key sections
of the city. The military’s attack on protesting citizens in Mandalaya left six
injured.
Demonstrators retaliated by throwing bricks, according to a medic at
the scene, while journalists said police had beaten them in the melee.
Many of the country’s locomotive drivers have joined the anti-coup work
boycotts and have frustrated junta efforts to restart the national railway
network after a COVID-19 shutdown.
Yangon residents had on the weekend used tree trunks to block police
vehicles sent to bring striking rail workers back to their stations.