By GUY DAVIES and SOHEL UDDIN, ABC News (LONDON) — Protesters once again took to the streets of Myanmar on the country’s Union Day, which marks the birth of the republic, as the ruling military junta released over 23,000 prisoners and arrested pro-democracy activists overnight. Among those released were a nationalist monk nicknamed the “Buddhist [.]
Myanmar's military has declared a state of emergency after arresting the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and several of her allies in an early morning raid.
The Reuters news agency reported that mobile internet data connections and some phone services have been disrupted.
State broadcaster MRTV said its radio and television operations were off the air due to technical problems. Due to current communication difficulties we d like to respectfully inform you that the regular programmes of MRTV and Myanmar Radio cannot be broadcast, the company said on Facebook.
Since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar has seen two previous coups in 1962 and 1988.
Romain Caillaud, an associate fellow with the Myanmar Studies Program at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, told DW that the military s actions overnight marked a huge setback 10 years after the start of the transition to democracy.