Silent strike empties streets across Myanmar as public rejects junta’s election

Traffic thinned and normally busy streets fell quiet across Yangon and several other cities on Wednesday as residents joined a nationwide silent strike, signaling persistent opposition to the military coup and the junta’s planned election. Yet unlike earlier strikes, the streets were not completely empty as fear of arrests kept most Yangon residents from openly joining Wednesday’s protest, Yangon residents said. “Roads have been clear since early morning. The traffic lights aren’t as congested as they used to be,” a taxi driver in Yangon said. “But, not everyone in Yangon is able to express their political stance against the military like the way they did in the past because of fear and deteriorating living conditions.” Residents in Yangon’s Thingangyun Township said major roads were nearly deserted, with only a handful of people on side streets. While many shops and restaurants stayed open, some had already shuttered in anticipation of the strike. Similar scenes were reported across multiple townships, including downtown Yangon, where both foot and vehicle traffic were markedly sparse.Security forces also stepped up patrols, with military vehicles circulating and soldiers photographing pedestrians and commuters at bus stops, heightening fears among residents.In Mandalay, the second-largest city in central Myanmar, the military regime warned that anyone taking part in the nationwide silent strike would face serious charges. Despite threats from the regime, residents deliberately stayed indoors on Wednesday, which also marked International Human Rights Day, as part of a coordinated ‘Silent Strike’ held from 10am to 3pm on Wednesday. A pedestrian overpass that is normally choked with Yangon residents is nearly empty as residents observe a nationwide silent strike to protest the junta’s planned election. (Photo: Myanmar Now) Organisers urged people to join the strike from their homes, workplaces or shops rather than gathering in public areas. A young man from Aung Myay Tharzan Township told Myanmar Now that more than 80 percent of Mandalay’s residents appeared to observe the silent strike. “The main crowded streets are much emptier than usual, and even the alleyways are almost deserted,” a man from Mandalay said.Myanmar has a long history of mass uprisings: the 1988 “8888” pro-democracy protests drew hundreds of thousands into the streets before the military crushed the movement with deadly force, killing an estimated several thousand people. In 2007, monks led the Saffron Revolution, a nationwide protest against military rule and rising prices, which was again violently suppressed as troops raided monasteries, opened fire on crowds and arrested scores of activists. The inside of a Yangon city bus sits nearly empty during a nationwide silent strike against the junta’s planned election, a stark contrast to the packed commuter crowds seen on normal days. (Photo: Myanmar Now) Today, public strikes in Myanmar are often carried out indoors because anyone gathering in the streets risks arrest, beatings or live-fire crackdowns by security forces. When civilians openly protested the 2021 coup, soldiers and police responded with lethal force, killing hundreds of people nationwide and detaining thousands more.Days before Wednesday's protest, activist Tayzar San and other protest leaders briefly appeared near Mandalay's Zay Cho Market, urging residents to join the December 10 Silent Strike to boycott the upcoming election — a move that quickly drew the junta’s ire.Following the release of photographs of the protest by resistance groups, more than 50 shops in the market were reportedly vandalised by junta troops the next evening, and many shopkeepers were also threatened. Nan Lin, an activist and wanted protest organiser, told Myanmar Now the strike was meant to send an unmistakable message: the country rejects the junta’s planned election. Critics and rights groups have already condemned the vote as a sham, highlighting the regime’s lack of legitimacy and the broad defiance it continues to face.“The unity and coordination of the public in this strike have made it very clear just how illegitimate the military’s sham election is,” Nan Lin said. “It’s obvious that the military, despite its violent tactics, holds no real power,” Over 100 people have already been charged in recent weeks for boycotting or criticising the vote. Among those facing charges are prominent protest leaders, including Tayzar San and Nan Lin, as well as members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). “I want to emphasise that their sham election is conducted under unjust laws,” Nan Lin said. “It is accompanied by the oppression of those who oppose it, with long prison sentences, and it offers nothing but false hope for the country and its people.”

Silent strike empties streets across Myanmar as public rejects junta’s election

Residents in Yangon, Mandalay and other cities stayed indoors despite threats of arrest, signaling continued defiance and underscoring widespread doubts over the regime’s “sham” vote

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