Local reports indicate at least nine journalists were released this week in a junta amnesty to mark Myanmar Independence Day but at least 50 journalists remain incarcerated.
Journalists released in Myanmar Independence Day amnesty mizzima.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mizzima.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The military that took power in a coup in Myanmar early this year has used force to keep that power. The military has killed more than 830 civilians and put thousands in detention, including the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Resistance to the coup continues to grow, and social media images now show a military force training to defend the shadow civilian government. Reporter Michael Sullivan has been following the story and is on the line. Hey there, Michael.
MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: So I was looking at these images. They show people drilling in a clearing in the jungle somewhere. They don t have visible weapons, but they ve got uniforms. They re marching in formation. What s going on?
Su Thit has a table in a corner by the window in her home. She no longer sits there at night. “You never know when the bullets will fly,” she says.
She fears the Myanmar military might shoot at random. At 8 pm, when people still bang pots and pans in protest, security forces will sometimes fire at the sounds with slingshots, stones, bullets.
Su Thit, a pseudonym she is using for her safety, lives in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. She began protesting in early February, when demonstrators swarmed the streets in defiance of a military coup that toppled the country’s quasi-democratic government and detained its civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.