Photo Essays

Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Recent Features

Photo Essays | Politics | Southeast Asia

Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Portraits of a pensive nation.

Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters near Sule Padoda in Yangon which had been a rallying point for agitations in the past.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters rally on Sunday, February 7.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Police barricade near Sule Pagoda.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters placing roses on the road.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Police personnel hold roses given by protesters.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters staging demonstration in Yangon.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters emerging out of vehicles to hold banners and flags in the midst of traffic snarls.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Two protesters near Sule Pagoda in a sit-in demonstration.

Credit: Special Arrangement
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters is a silent demonstration in Yangon.

Credit: Chaw Ei
Protests Against Military Coup Sweep Myanmar’s Yangon

Protesters participating in a bike rally in Yangon.

Credit: 7 Day News

From Putao in Kachin in the north to coastal towns on the shore of the Andaman Sea, huge crowds of anti-coup protestors organized demonstrations across Myanmar against the February 1 coup in which the army detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The agitation which began on February 6  was peaceful but the police used water cannons to quell the movement in the capital Naypyidaw. Besides street protests, a campaign of civil disobedience has been launched by doctors, teachers and other government workers against the military takeover that continues to draw widespread international condemnation.

In the country’s largest city, Yangon, monks marched in thousands with workers, schoolteachers and students with multi-colored Buddhist flags along with red banners. A few groups gathered near the Sule Pagoda which had been a rallying point for major protests in the past against the former ruling juntas.

On February 7, the military government lifted a day-long ban on the internet that had fueled even more outrage among a population apprehensive of a return to the days of military rule.

Rajeev Bhattacharyya is a senior journalist in Assam, India