17th February, 2021 #day17

 

Some of the most trending news among Myanmar’s social media users are deliberate roadblocks by car and trishaw owners in Yangon main roads, the resurgence of protests in Yangon’s streets, and naming and shaming of family members linked to the junta. Massive protests in Kachin and Tanintharyi; the first official statement of the Kachin Independent Army on the coup; warrants for a few popular artists; protests of railway workers, and the coup government’s committee of inquiry in townships to identify and punish staffs involved in the CDM have garnered public attention as well.

Since the number of protesters have been gradually slowing down in the last few days, there were calls among social media users for people to take to the streets and protest again by using various slogans such as "Gathering Millions for Mother Su’s Release", "Gathering Millions for Democracy," and "Gathering Millions for Overthrowing Dictatorship." As of this morning, many protesters used their vehicles including public buses to block the main roads in Yangon. The aim is to slow down the work of staffs who have not involved in the CDM movement and to block the security forces entering the downtown areas. In this afternoon, Yangon has seen the massive rally with some estimating as many as half a million in Sule alone, and claiming that it could be the largest crowd within two weeks. Painting statements on the streets have also become popular, with images of drones and satellite spreading on social media.

In addition, the term “social punishment” has been widely used among social media users. The internet users, especially those living abroad, are searching for family members and relatives of the members of the coup government in their diaspora communities. According to the information shared on social media, family members associated with the leaders of the regime are mostly living in developed countries such as the United States, Australia, and some European countries. People are urging the respective governments for visa bans and deportations. Moreover, there have been calls to isolate them from communities and boycott their businesses. However, some social media users have warned about sharing personal information of those people, young family members, in particular, on social media as they can be easily targeted by cyber bullies and abuses.

The Kachin Independent Organization / Kachin Independent Army, one of the ethnic armed groups that has been criticized for not issuing an official statement since the coup, released a statement saying that they are concerned about the military's takeover, called on the regime to respect the will of the people, and not to resort to violence. The KIA's statement comes amid a crackdown on protests in Myitkyina a few days ago. This coincides with the growing protests in Kachin State.

Due to the involvement of the railway crews in the CDM, the transportation in Yangon is largely disrupted and completely stopped in many parts of the city. Some staffs have been arrested and forced to work. The coup government has set up interdepartmental committee of inquiry in some townships and fired staffs for violation of the civil servants’ code of conduct.

At the time of writing, videos have surfaced on social media users of the noise of several rounds of gunfire in Mandalay. According to some users, the housing of the railway crews is the target of crackdown, but the details are not yet known and no media report has been released.