21st February, 2021 #Day21

 Bloodshed of yesterday led to mourning for the victims today. A 16-year-old Wai Yan Tun became the second victim of the violent attacks of security forces. Incident in Mandalay was widely expected to provoke public outrage, but the day ended peacefully. Protesters from all over the country laid wreaths at the victims, lit candles, and shared prayers. The international community has condemned yesterday's shooting and urged the military not to resort to violence against peaceful protesters. According to reports, the battalion that violently crackdown the Mandalay protest yesterday is the 33rd Light Infantry Battalion which is the same battalion that brutally attacked the Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2017.

Today's protests have some unusual but interesting scenes. For the first time, a number of monks have joined a protest in front of the UN office in Yangon. They have expressed support for the anti-coup protests following some ultra nationalist monks’ recent attacks on pro-democracy protesters cars. In addition, some ethnic armed groups have made it clear that they support the protests. Today, the Karen National Union provided security for the protest march in Myawaddy, Karen State, and a few days ago, the Chin National Front also accompanied the protesters in Tlang Pi village of Thantlang Township in Chin State. These have received rave reviews from social media users.

The state-run newspaper reported today that the bullet that struck the young woman's head was not the same as the one used by police and denied all the accusations against the police. This news drew strong criticism on social media and people objected to the announcement as baseless and unreasonable.

Another trending topics on social media is calling for the acceleration of protest tomorrow which they called five 2 or 22222 movement. It is reminiscent of 8888 uprising, the largest mass movement in the history of Myanmar that took place on the August 8 of 1988. Since the coup d'état, protesters have been urging civil servants to go on strike every Monday. According to recent news, the junta will cut off internet again on Monday in Yangon from 1 am to 12 noon; In other areas, it is reported that it will be until 9 am.

However, there are differences of opinion among pro-protest social media users regarding the committees formed by some protesters and objectives of the committees. Currently, two Yangon-based protest committees with similar names have emerged. The first is the General Strike Committee for Nationalities - GSCN, which was formed on February 14 with 27 ethnic nationalities. Abolition of dictatorship, repeal of the 2008 constitution, building a federal democracy system, and the release of political prisoners are the four slogans of this committee. The other committee, the General Strike Committee - GSC, was formed last Saturday with 25 organizations representing the Sangha, students, workers, and parties. Their objectives are the same as the first group. However, the protesters especially younger generation are criticizing the second group, GSC, claiming that the committee is not necessary and politicians should not try to take advantage of the current protests. In addition, many pro-NLD protesters have made only two priorities: the release of detainees and the overthrow of the dictatorship. Some social media users have argued that debating committee issues and objectives could hurt the momentum of the current protests and urged everyone to give priority to overthrowing the dictatorship.