‘No standing down, no giving up': resistance to junta grows

Last Sunday morning, a small group of protesters walked together in Kyimyindaing township, Yangon , waving bunches of eugenia and roses. They carried a banner reading: “The only real prison is fear and the real freedom is freedom from fear.”

-  Rebecca Ratcliffe

The words are those of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose sentencing by the junta to two years in detention was announced on Monday.

Minutes after they had gathered, witnesses told local media that a military vehicle rammed into the group. At least five people were killed, according to independent outlet Myanmar Now. Those who survived were arrested – some of the more than 10,700 people to be detained since the February coup. The generals have arrested thousands, including the country’s elected leaders, and unleashed terror across the country, and opposition to the junta remains widespread.

A civil disobedience movement continues to hold small, peaceful flashmob-style protests, while armed groups carry out guerrilla ambushes. Young people have fled to the jungle to train and communities have taken up arms to defend their areas, at times in alliance with existing resistance organisations drawn from ethnic groups in conflict with the military.