Days after a temporary blockade on Facebook, authorities
ordered internet providers to enforce the latest ban "until further
notice", Norwegian mobile phone company Telenor Asa said.
Demand for VPNs has soared in Myanmar, allowing some people
to evade the ban, but users reported more general disruption to mobile data
services that most people in the country of 53 million rely on for news and
communications.
"We lost freedom, justice and urgently need
democracy," wrote one Twitter user. "Please hear the voice of
Myanmar."
Army chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power on Monday, alleging
fraud in a November 8 election that Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy had won in a landslide. The electoral commission dismissed
the army's accusations.
The takeover drew international condemnation with a UN
Security Council call for the release of all detainees and targeted sanctions
under consideration by Washington.
Suu Kyi, 75, has not been seen in public since the coup. She
spent some 15 years under house arrest during a struggle against previous
juntas before the troubled democratic transition began in 2011.
The lawyer for Suu Kyi and ousted President Win Myint said
they were being held in their homes and that he was unable to meet them because
they were still being questioned. Suu Kyi faces charges of importing six
walkie-talkies illegally while Win Myint is accused of flouting coronavirus
restrictions.
"Of course, we want unconditional release as they have
not broken the law," said Khin Maung Zaw, the veteran lawyer who is
representing both of them.
Although there have been no mass street demonstrations in a
country with a history of bloody crackdowns on protesters, a civil disobedience
movement is growing and every night people bang pots and pans in a show of
anger.
In addition to about 150 arrests in the wake of the coup
reported by human rights groups, local media said around 30 people have been
detained over the noise protests.
Disobedience
Teachers became the latest group to join a civil
disobedience campaign with some lecturers refusing to work or cooperate with
authorities. The movement that began with doctors has also brought in some
government ministry employees.
International pressure on the junta has increased.
UN Myanmar envoy Christine Schraner Burgener strongly
condemned the military's actions in a call with the country's deputy military
chief Soe Win, and called for the immediate release of all those detained, a UN
spokesman said on Friday.
The junta defended its action in a statement from the
foreign ministry, saying the refusal to take action on the army's election
complaints was "tantamount to the attempt to take the sovereignty of the
Union by wrongful forcible means".
It said the army would practice "genuine and
discipline-flourishing multiparty democracy" suited to Myanmar and then
transfer responsibilities after a fair election.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed top Chinese
diplomat Yang Jiechi in a phone call on Friday to condemn the coup in Myanmar,
the State Department said.
China, which has close links to Myanmar's military, joined
the consensus on the Security Council statement, but has not condemned the army
takeover and has said countries should act in the interests of their
neighbour's stability.
The United States is considering targeted sanctions on
individuals and on entities controlled by the military.
The generals have few overseas interests, but the military's
extensive business interests could suffer if foreign partners leave - as
Japanese drinks company Kirin Holdings said it would on Friday.
Telenor, another company attracted to invest by Myanmar's
decade of opening, said it was legally obliged to follow the order to block
some social media, but "highlighted the directive's contradiction with
international human rights law."
U.S. based pressure group Human Rights Watch called for the
lifting of the internet restrictions, the release of detainees and an end to
threats against journalists.
"A news and information blackout by the coup leaders
can't hide their politically motivated arrests and other abuses," said
Asia director Brad Adams.
© Reuters
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