Myanmar blocks Facebook as protests against coup grow

A man hits a plastic container to make noise against the military coup in Yangon on Wednesday night. PIC/AFP

Myanmar's new military government has blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday's coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected civilian government and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook is especially popular in Myanmar and the ousted government had commonly made public announcements on the social media site. Internet users said the disruption began late Wednesday night, and mobile service provider Telenor Myanmar confirmed in a statement that mobile operators and internet service providers in Myanmar had received a directive from the communications ministry to temporarily block Facebook.

Breach of human rights
Telenor Myanmar, which is part of the Norwegian Telenor Group, said it would comply, though was concerned the order was a breach of human rights. "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," said a Facebook spokesperson. The political party ousted in Monday's coup and other activists in Myanmar have called for a campaign of civil disobedience to oppose the takeover.

Health workers: won't work
In the vanguard are medical personnel, who have declared they won't work for the military government and who are highly respected for their work during the coronavirus pandemic that is taxing the country's dangerously inadequate health system.

Videos posted on social media showed medical personnel especially turned out to sing the song "Kabar Makyay Bu" - or "We Won't Be Satisfied Until the End of the World" - which is sung to the tune of "Dust in the Wind," a 1977 song by the US rock group Kansas.

For a second night on Wednesday, residents in Yangon engaged in "noise protests," with people banging pots and pans and honking car horns under cover of darkness. And the recent protests have revived a song closely associated with the failed 1988 uprising against military dictatorship.