Myanmar junta shuts Twitter and Instagram to curb protests
Military authorities in-charge of Myanmar broadened a ban on social media following this week's coup and ordered communications operators and internet service providers to shut Twitter and Instagram, as residents in the biggest city again banged pots and plastic bottles to show their opposition to the army takeover. A statement said that some people are trying to use both platforms to spread fake news.
Twitter stopped working from 10 pm
Netblocks, which tracks social media disruptions and shutdowns, confirmed the loss of Twitter starting at 10 pm. Instagram was already subject to restrictions. Telenor, a Norway-based telecommunications company operating in Myanmar through a subsidiary, said it had complied with the order but also challenged it.
Resistance to the coup gathering steam
State media has been heavily censored and Facebook, in particular, has become the main source of news and information in the country. It is also being used to organize protests. For the fourth night, on Friday, the cacophony of noise from windows and balconies reverberated through the commercial capital of Yangon, as resistance to the coup and arrests of activists and politicians gathered steam.
Military announced it will govern for a year
Earlier on Friday, nearly 300 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party declared themselves the sole legitimate representatives of the people and asked for international recognition as the country's government. They were supposed to take their seats on Monday in a new session of Parliament following the November elections when the military announced it was taking control for a year.
Military had accused Suu Kyi of election fraud
The military had accused Aung San Suu Kyi and her party of failing to act on its complaints that the election was fraudulent, though the election commission said it had found no evidence to support the claims.
UN Chief Guterres reacted sharply to the military's actions
Meanwhile, in New York, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged on Friday that the body will do everything it can to unite the international community and create conditions for the military coup to be reversed. "It is absolutely essential to return to democracy, respect the results of the November elections, and release all people detained by the military," Guterres said in a news conference.
Secretary-General's disapproval has been conveyed to the military
Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN special envoy for Myanmar, had the first contact with the military since the coup. According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, she reiterated to Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice General Soe Win, the Secretary-General's strong condemnation of the military's action that disrupted the democratic reforms in the country. In addition to 134 officials and lawmakers, another 18 activists were also detained.
Win Htein arrested for sedition on Friday
Further, on Thursday, authorities arrested four of 20 protesters who had gathered outside the University of Medicine in Mandalay. On Friday, Suu Kyi's senior aide, Win Htein, was arrested in the Mayangone township for sedition, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Top country leaders are under house arrest
Suu Kyi and President Win Myint are under house arrest and have been charged with minor offenses. In the largest rallies since the takeover, hundreds of students and teachers took to the streets on Friday to demand the military hand power back to elected politicians. "We will never be together with them," lecturer Nwe Thazin said at the Yangon University of Education.
Suu Kyi's tenure had been Myanmar's most democratic period
Myanmar has been under military rule for five decades after a 1962 coup, and Suu Kyi's five years as a leader since 2015 had been its most democratic period despite continued use of repressive colonial-era laws and persecution of minority Rohingya Muslims.
