Myanmar: Anti-coup protests met with web blackout

The new ruling navy junta in Myanmar responded to ongoing protests towards the current coup by imposing a nationwide web blackout, the NetBlocks Internet Observatory reported on Saturday.
Despite the blackout, demonstrations within the Southeast Asian nation continued to develop with Saturday seeing the biggest anti-coup protests but as round 3,000 protesters marched close to Yangon University.

Members of the group shouted “Military dictatorship should fall” and “Down with dictatorship.”
More than 100 police in riot gear had been deployed to dam them from continuing and protesters left the realm with out confrontation.
They had been anticipated to assemble once more in one other a part of the business capital afterward Saturday.
Calls for protest towards navy rule have unfold on-line and outpourings of dissent have grow to be bolder.
Saturday’s web blackout was the second time the navy closed down on-line providers, the primary being on February 2 when the navy arrested civilian chief Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
Junta continues its marketing campaign towards on-line dissent
The junta had already cracked down on social media, shutting down Facebook and Twitter in current days.
They had ordered telecom corporations to dam entry to sure websites the place customers had been organizing well-liked resistance. Facebook customers had shortly gathered within the “Civil Disobedience Movement” discussion board earlier than the service was shut down.
Norwegian telecom firm Telenor confirmed that it had been requested to close down entry to social media providers. The firm mentioned it had “challenged the necessity” of the order however gone forward with it anyway.
Some customers had been in a position to circumvent the block with VPN providers with trending hashtags equivalent to #WeNeedDemocracy and #HeartheVoiceofMyanmar receiving thousands and thousands of mentions.

UN tells the navy to relinquish energy
The NetBlocks Internet Observatory revealed that Myanmar had been put beneath a second blackout in a tweet on Saturday explaining that “real-time network data show national connectivity falling to 54% of ordinary levels as users report difficulty getting online.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres advised reporters on Friday that: “We will do everything we can to make the international community united in making sure that conditions are created for this coup to be reversed.”
His remark got here after a UN particular envoy made first contact with Myanmar’s deputy navy commander and had urged the junta to step down and return energy to the civilian authorities.
State media within the nation reported on Saturday that navy officers had met with the diplomats and requested them to work with the nation’s new leaders.

“The Government understand the concerns of the international community on the continuation of Myanmar’s democratic transition process,” International Cooperation Minister Ko Ko Hlaing reportedly mentioned within the assembly.