JAKARTA - Demonstrations against the February 1 coup by the Myanmar military are continuing throughout the Thousand Pagoda Country. Anticipating the increasingly widespread action, the military as the ruler, assisted by the force of the police, took a number of tactical steps.

The deployment of armored vehicles, watercanon vehicles, repressive actions until the amendment of the Law was carried out, to deal with protests that are increasingly growing in Myanmar.

Instead of being afraid, the protesters became even more creative, amidst the pressure and violence they faced. Starting from the creative slogans on the posters and banners they carry, street murals, vehicle blockades, to the famous John Lennon Wall.

There were also residents who wore clothes in the style of the super hero 'Batman', to food vendors who gave free food to protesters. The following are some of the creative actions of protesters in Myanmar, as reported by The Irrawaddy.

Road blockade

On Wednesday night, the words of the anti-coup protesters were, "Let's drive the car really fast tomorrow." The next day, cars on the main Yangon road were moving fast, creating a huge traffic jam in the city. The slowdown is one way that Yangonese have shown their support for the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which aims to prevent civil servants from working for the military regime. When traffic police asked drivers to accelerate, a long line of protesters started walking across the road and blocked vehicles. One group even knelt in the middle of the road, pretending to tie their shoes.

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Batman takes part in protests in Myanmar. (Twitter / @ FrontierMM)

"We didn't break any laws, we just crossed the road," shouted one protester to traffic police trying to disperse the group.

Amid the large deployment of troops and the presence of military armored vehicles across the country, thousands of people from prominent artists to young people, have adopted various creative tactics to demonstrate their peaceful opposition to the military regime, while at the same time taunting the coup leaders. Usually, the source of the idea is unknown.

Car broke down

On February 16, a large number of social media users shared the message: "Tomorrow's car won't break down!" The next day, cars mysteriously broke down in the middle of main roads and on bridges across Yangon, as daily mass action continued in the city. With cars 'on strike' blocking the road, police and military personnel were unable to carry out the usual patrols and disperse the protests. Road blockages also prevent civil servants from reaching their offices.

When riot police asked drivers to move the car, some responded that they were running out of fuel, others left signs on their vehicles with notes such as, 'This car is participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement'.

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The car broke down. (Twitter / @ YourAnonCentral)

As police tried to move the car, a long line of protesters started crossing the road, deliberately blocking them. Scenes like this are repeated from Yangon to Muse in the north of the country, as a "car wrecked" campaign takes place across the country.

“We have to show our opposition to dictators in any way we can. That's why we participate in all campaigns launched on social media, "said taxi driver U Htoo Htet.

Street mural

Pro-democracy activists also don't allow riot police to rest at night. After a hard day to break up or crack down on protests at a large demonstration center in Yangon, they spent their night removing all the street murals made by young people in major cities across the country.

The campaign, which features massive anti-coup slogans painted directly onto city streets, is believed to have started last week in Mandalay, the country's second largest city, when a group painted 'We want democracy' on a street outside the Institute of Technology. Information on Myanmar in Chanmyatharzi Township.

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Street mural creation. (@GuideCivilian)

The campaign caught the attention of Maxar, a space technology company that produces satellite imagery. The company shares its mural images with international media, acknowledging the novelty of the methods young people in Myanmar are using to be heard.

Within days, the campaign spread from the northernmost Kachin State to the Tanintharyi Region in the far south, with young people in major cities creating street murals featuring slogans such as: 'Respect our voices', 'We want democracy' , 'No Dictatorship' to 'F ... coup'. Every time the authorities removed the mural, residents simply moved to another location and repainted their wishes on the streets.

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Street mural. (Twitter / @ GuideCivilian)

On Thursday morning, 20 young people painted 'No Dictatorship' in large print on one of the main streets in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. A young woman from the group who asked not to be named said, 'The police removed our mural just hours after we finished it,'.

"We just want to tell the world that we don't want a dictatorship," he said.

Projected image
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Action image projection (Source: Thar Zaw via The Irrawaddy)

In Yangon, where a curfew is imposed, images projected onto the sides of buildings have become a common sight. The sides of the buildings are illuminated every night, but their locations are always changing.

The projected image includes a three finger salute (a sign of resistance to the coup) and signs urging the release of Myanmar's detained civilian leader, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and demands that civil servants join the CDM and refuse to work. regime cabinet.

'The Lennon Wall'

Inspired by the popular pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, young residents in Yangon have also created 'Lennon Walls' (named after musician John Lennon, seen by many as a symbol of freedom and peaceful protest) throughout the city, especially at bus stops, bridges and on walls in their neighborhoods.

In Yangon, young people call them our 'sound wall'. The walls are covered with Post-it Note messages calling for democracy, demanding Aung San Suu Kyi's release and rejecting the coup.

Some young people have pasted walls and bridges in Mayangone and Hledan, the city's most popular protest sites, with posters and artwork to draw people's attention to the protests.

Tembok John Lennon
'Lennon Wall'. (Twitter / @ FrontierMM)

An anti-coup protester who helped start the Lennon Wall movement in Yangon, city planner Ma Eliza Khine, said, “We came up with the idea that we don't have to face the authorities directly. And we can voice our wishes from the wall at the same time, ".

However, he said police had started chasing the young man who tried to make Lennon Walls recently. “They deleted all the records in one place. But young people make it again in another place, ".

Pots and pans

Hitting pots and pans at 8:00 p.m. was one of the most persistent campaigns to emerge since the military seized power. It started in Yangon on February 2, the day after the military takeover, and quickly spread across the country.

Traditionally, Burmese throw pots and pans to keep evil out of the village or home.

“All our family members are waiting for the clock to show 8 PM. every night, ”a 70-year-old retired civil servant from Dawbon Township.

"When we heard they [the military regime] charged our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with additional offenses, we took extra hard beatings that night," he said.


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