Myanmar Soldiers, Aiming to Silence Coup Protests, Target Journalists

In 2012, under a new quasi-civilian government, inexpensive cellphones began flooding in and Facebook became the dominant online forum. A vibrant media sprouted online and newsstands overflowed with competing papers.

Since the Feb. 1 coup, protests have erupted almost daily — often with young people at the forefront — and a broad-based civil disobedience movement has brought the economy to a virtual halt. In response, soldiers and the police have killed at least 536 people.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, the special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, warned that “a blood bath is imminent.” The regime has arrested thousands, including the country’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. On Thursday, one of her lawyers said she had been charged with violating the official secrets act, adding to a list of alleged offenses.

While the U.N. Security Council has not penalized Myanmar’s military, it has spoken in increasingly negative terms about the repression. In a statement issued Thursday evening, the council “expressed deep concern at the rapidly deteriorating situation and strongly condemned the use of violence against peaceful protesters and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children.”

While the military uses state-owned media to spread its propaganda and fire off warnings, attacks on journalists have increased drastically in recent weeks, as have arrests.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/world/asia/myanmar-journalists-arrests.html