Easter eggs are painted with slogans from the protests against the military coup, in Mandalay, Myanmar April 3, 2021. (Photo from penpusherhackette) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs on Sunday (Apr 4), while others were back on the streets, facing off with security forces after a night of candle-lit vigils for hundreds killed since a Feb 1 coup, Reuters reported.
In the latest series of impromptu shows of defiance, messages like "We must win", "Spring Revolution" and "Get out MAH" were seen on eggs in photographs on social media, the latter referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. Easter isn’t widely observed in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Early on Sunday, hundreds of people protested in the country's second city of Mandalay, some on foot, others on motorbikes, according to images on social media, before police and soldiers moved in to disperse them.
Police and a spokesman for the junta didn’t answer telephone calls seeking comment. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group monitoring casualties and arrests since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said the toll of dead had risen to 557, as of late Saturday. Despite the killings, protesters continue to turn out every day in towns big and small to reject the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy. Numerous candle-lit vigils took place on Saturday night.