Critics of army rule in Myanmar stage a silent strike against upcoming election

BANGKOK (AP) — Opponents of military rule in Myanmar staged a joint protest on Wednesday calling on people to stay indoors to show they are boycotting elections scheduled for late this month.

They defied harsh legal penalties for attempting to disrupt the polls. The military government has announced charges against 10 pro-democracy activists who staged a rare street protest last week in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city.

Critics say the Dec. 28 polls will be neither free nor fair and are an effort by the military to legitimize its rule after seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

The General Strike Coordination Body, the leading non-violent organization opposing army rule, had urged people to join a “silent strike” on Wednesday.

It called on the public to stay inside homes or workplaces from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on International Human Rights Day. The tactic has been used on special occasions since the military takeover.

Images on social media showed uncrowded streets in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, and elsewhere.

Also on Wednesday, the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper reported that authorities were seeking the arrest of the 10 activists under a section of a new election law that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for disrupting the electoral process.

They are charged with allegedly misleading the public by distributing leaflets against the election around a crowded morning market in Mandalay on Dec. 3.

The brief flash-mob protest in Mandalay, where heavy security and frequent crackdowns have made open dissent nearly impossible, drew widespread attention. Most of the activists made no effort to hide their faces while they tossed leaflets and shouted slogans.

Among those charged are well-known activists Tayzar San, Nan Lin and Khant Wai Phyo. They led the protest calling for the public to reject elections, abolition of the military conscription law and the release of political prisoners.

Tayzar San, a physician-turned-activist, organized the first public protest in Mandalay a few days after the military seized power in 2021. That helped spark nationwide resistance, and an arrest warrant was issued for him.

“Although it has been five years, the public’s mobilization is the main obvious evidence that it has not become complacent and has not cowardly given up under the oppressive mechanisms of the military dictatorship,” Tayzar San told The Associated Press after last week’s Mandalay protest.

Independent media in Myanmar, including the Democratic Voice of Burma online news site, reported earlier this week that authorities had threatened shopkeepers with arrest if they closed for the opposition’s “silent strike.”