According to a Thailand-based advocacy group – Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 550 people have been killed in Myanmar by its military after staging a coup on February 1, which overthrew the democratically elected Government.
Moreover, the military dictatorship in Myanmar, in a bid to control communications, has cut all wireless internet services in the entire country until further notice.
After weeks of overnight internet cut-offs, the military on April 2 shut all links apart from those using fiber optic cable, which was working at drastically reduced speeds.
Pro-democracy and anti-coup demonstrators have been staging protests, braving brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military for two months after the Government was overthrown.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the Myanmar Military had “forcibly disappeared hundreds of people” – including politicians, election officials, journalists, activists and protesters since the coup.
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According to AAPP, at least 2,751 people, among them journalists, protesters, activists, government officials, trade unionists, writers, students, civilians and even children, have been detained as of April 2.
On the occasion of Easter Sunday, anti-coup demonstrators in Myanmar took to the streets holding painted eggs in a nod to Easter.
In the biggest city of Yangon, one group marched through the Insein district chanting and singing protest songs and cradling eggs bearing the slogan “Spring Revolution.”
Sunday’s so-called “Easter Egg Strike” follows other themed days. They included a “Flower Strike,” in which protesters laid flowers in public places to honour those killed by security forces, and a “Silent Strike,” in which people across the country left the streets deserted.