YANGON – Anti-coup protesters in Myanmar donned flowers in their hair today to mark the birthday of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest and is due to face court again next week.
Suu Kyi’s elected government was overthrown in a February 1 coup that sparked mass protests and renewed clashes between the military and ethnic rebel armies in border regions.
Flowers tucked into a bun have long been a signature look of Suu Kyi, who turns 76 today.
Many across the country replicated the floral hairstyle and uploaded pictures to social media on the occasion.
Among them is Myanmar Miss Universe beauty queen Thuzar Wint Lwin, who wore red flowers in her hair and said: “May our leader be healthy.”
In Yangon’s north, protesters put up posters on power lines wishing Suu Kyi a happy birthday and expressing solidarity.
“Happy Birthday Mother Suu. We are right behind you,” read some signs.
Some marched with black umbrellas and banners that read “freedom from fear” alongside pictures of Suu Kyi.
In the border region of Karen state, rebel soldiers were photographed holding their guns, and yellow, white and purple posies, and with single flowers tucked behind their ears.
Demonstrators in the southeastern city of Dawei made a giant pink birthday cake and brought it to their street protest.
The Noble Peace Prize laureate’s international reputation was damaged after she defended Myanmar’s military over allegations of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority in troubled Rakhine state in 2017.
Back in court
Not all of Myanmar’s protest participants are full of praise for Suu Kyi.
“I am involved in this campaign because now, she is unfairly detained by the military, and her civilian rights... and freedom (are) denied,” a 35-year-old activist told AFP, adding that it is not personal support.
“After she is free from her detention, she will have to take full responsibility over her silence concerning the suffering of the Rohingya and other ethnic groups.”
The civilian death toll since the coup is estimated to be at least 870 people, and close to 5,000 protesters are in detention, according to a local monitoring group.
The United Nations General Assembly yesterday took the rare step of calling on member states to “prevent the flow of arms” into Myanmar, part of a non-binding resolution condemning the coup in the violence-wracked country.
The resolution – which did not go so far as to call for a global arms embargo – also demanded that the junta “immediately stop all violence against peaceful demonstrators”.
It was approved by 119 countries, with 36 abstaining including China, Myanmar’s main ally. Only one country, Belarus, voted against it.
Suu Kyi, who is due back in court next week, has been hit with an eclectic raft of criminal charges, including accepting illegal payments of gold and violating a colonial-era secrecy law.
She went on trial for sedition on Tuesday, but journalists were barred from observing the proceedings. – AFP, June 19, 2021
