(Reuters) -Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs on Sunday while others were back on the streets, facing off with the security forces after a night of candle-lit vigils for hundreds killed since a Feb. 1 coup.
In the latest in a series of impromptu shows of defiance, messages including “We must win” and “Get out MAH” - referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing - were seen on eggs in photographs on social media.
“Easter is all about the future and the people of Myanmar have a great future in a federal democracy,” Dr Sasa, international envoy for the ousted civilian government, said in a statement. Sasa is a member of the Christian minority in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Opponents of military rule have mounted a civil disobedience campaign since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, that has included creative shows of defiance promoted on social media.
Young people in the main city of Yangon handed out eggs bearing the messages of protest, pictures in posts showed.
Crowds have returned to the streets day and night to reject the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy. Numerous candle-lit vigils took place overnight.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group monitoring casualties and arrests, said the toll of dead had risen to 557, as of late Saturday.
Several thousand people turned out in the second city of Mandalay, some on foot, others on motorbikes, to show their opposition, according to images on social media, before police and soldiers moved in to disperse them.
Protesters also gathered in several other towns in northern, central and southern areas.
Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.
The AAPP said 2,658 people were in detention, including four women and a man who spoke to a visiting CNN news crew in interviews on the streets of the main city of Yangon last week.
A spokesman for CNN said the network was aware of reports of detentions following the team’s visit. “We are pressing the authorities for information on this, and for the safe release of any detainees,” he said.
The military, waging its own campaign to stifle dissent, has ordered internet providers to cut wireless broadband, depriving most customers of access.
Authorities have issued arrest warrants for nearly 40 celebrities known for opposing military rule, including social media influencers, singers and models, under a law against inciting dissent in the armed forces.
The charges, announced on state television’s evening news bulletin on Friday and Saturday, can carry a prison term of three years.
‘CONSCIENCE CLEAR’
One of those charged, blogger Thurein Hlaing Win, told Reuters he was shocked to see himself branded a criminal and had gone into hiding.
“I didn’t do anything bad or evil. I stood on the side of truth,” he said by telephone from an undisclosed location. “If I get punished for that, my conscience is clear. My beliefs will not change. Everyone knows the truth.”
The military ruled the former British colony with an iron fist after seizing power in a 1962 coup until it began withdrawing from civilian politics a decade ago, releasing Suu Kyi from years of house arrest and allowing an election that her party swept in 2015.
It says it had to oust Suu Kyi’s government because a November election, again won easily by her party, was rigged. The election commission has dismissed the assertion.
But many in Myanmar, particularly younger people who have come of age in the past decade of opening up, cannot accept the return of rule by the generals.
Suu Kyi is in detention facing charges that could bring 14 years in prison. Her lawyer says the charges are trumped up.
The coup has also triggered clashes with autonomy-seeking ethnic minority forces that have announced support for the pro-democracy movement.
The Karen National Union, which signed a ceasefire in 2012, has seen the first military airstrikes on its forces in more than 20 years and says it must fight to defend itself from a government offensive.
The group said more than 12,000 villagers had fled their homes because of the air strikes.
Fighting has also flared in the north between the army and ethnic Kachin insurgents. The turmoil has sent several thousand refugees fleeing into Thailand and India.
Suu Kyi’s party has vowed to set up a federal democracy, the minority groups’ main demand.
Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by William Mallard and Kenneth Maxwell
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