Myanmar protesters defy military

Demonstrators in Myanmar held protests yesterday to demand the restoration of the Aung San Suu Kyi government and called for a more coordinated nationwide dissent, defying the military’s moves to suppress attempts to rally opposition to its two-month rule.

- PATRICIA P. ESTEVES

Six people were killed at the weekend, according to activists, as police and soldiers used force to break up demonstrations that some protesters are calling a “spring revolution.”

The campaign against the ousting of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi has included street marches, a civil disobedience campaign of strikes and quirky acts of rebellion organized on social media, which the junta has sought to control by shutting down wireless broadband and mobile data services.

Demonstrators with placards of Suu Kyi and signs asking for international intervention marched through the streets of the second-biggest city Mandalay, according to images on social media.