Burma cuts Facebook as coup resistance arises

RANGOON, Burma -- Burma's new military government blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday's coup surged as calls arose for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook is especially popular in Burma and is how most people access the internet.

The military seized power shortly before a new session of Parliament was to convene Monday and detained Suu Kyi and other top politicians.

It said it acted because the government had refused to address its complaints that November's general election, in which Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory, was marred by widespread voting irregularities. The state Election Commission has rjected the allegations.

About 70 recently elected lawmakers defied the new military government Thursday by convening a symbolic meeting of the Parliament that was prevented from opening. They signed their oaths of office at a government guesthouse in the capital, Naypyitaw, where about 400 of them were detained in the aftermath of the takeover. They have since been told they can return to their home districts.

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The unofficial convening was a symbolic gesture to assert that they, not the military, are the country's legitimate lawmakers.

Some expressed their anger and their determination to resist the coup as they left the guesthouse.

"This violates the human rights of the whole citizenry. This is not a coup. This is a treason against the government. I will have to say that this is state treason," said Khin Soe Soe Kyi, a member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

The military declared a one-year state of emergency and put all state powers into the hands of the junta, including legislative functions. It said that at the end of that period it will call an election and turn over power to the winner.

Medical personnel have declared they won't work for the military government. Health workers are highly respected for their work during the coronavirus pandemic that is taxing the country's dangerously inadequate health system.

For a second night Wednesday, residents of Rangoon conducted noise protests, banging pots and pans and honking car horns.

The protests have revived a song associated with a failed 1988 uprising against military dictatorship. Burma was under military rule for five decades after a 1962 coup, and Suu Kyi's five years as leader have been its most democratic period since them, despite continued use of repressive colonial-era laws.

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Thousands of people in Naypyitaw joined a rally in support of the military coup Thursday, the latest of a number of events that aim to project an image of popular acceptance of the power grab.

Suu Kyi remains highly popular. Her party said Wednesday that she has been charged with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies -- believed to be used by her bodyguards -- that were found in her house.

The charge, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, allows her to be held in custody until at least Feb. 15. Ousted President Win Myint is being held on a separate charge. Suu Kyi is believed to be under house arrest at her residence.

Facebook users said service disruptions began late Wednesday.

"Telecom providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block Facebook. We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information," Facebook said in a statement.

Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.

In 2018, Facebook removed several accounts linked to Burma's military, including that of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the officer who led this week's coup, after complaints that they appeared to fuel hatred toward the country's Muslim Rohingya minority. The Rohingya were targeted in a brutal 2017 army counterinsurgency campaign that drove more than 700,000 to neighboring Bangladesh. Critics say the army's actions constituted genocide.