Protests continue in Myanmar as military cut internet, deploy tanks

Mandalay University students hold posters reading "Stop arresting people illegally at midnight" and "Save Myanmar" during an anti-coup protest in the city of Mandalay. AP

The military has steadily escalated efforts to quell an uprising against their seizure of power two weeks ago, which saw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained along with hundreds, including members of her democratically elected government.

The generals imposed an hours-long internet shutdown on Monday morning and ratcheted up the military's presence across the country overnight, sending armoured vehicles onto the streets of Yangon, the nation's commercial hub and biggest city.

Fresh protests again flared in the city, near the central bank where troops were deployed.

'The fear is going away'

"Patrolling with armoured vehicles means they are threatening people," said 46-year-old Nyein Moe, among the more than one thousand gathered in front of the bank.

"People are marching on the streets and they don't care about being arrested or shot. We can't stop now. The fear in our mind is going away."

Hundreds of engineering and technology students also protested in a northern district of Yangon.

• Myanmar junta warns public not to hide fugitive protesters

There was a rally in the southern city of Dawei too, a verified live stream on Facebook showed, with hundreds of protesters accompanied by a marching band.

Some carried banners against the military that read: "They kill in the day. They steal at night. They lie on TV."

Protesters also came out in large numbers in the capital Naypyidaw and the second-biggest city Mandalay.

'State-ordered information blackout'

Monitoring group NetBlocks reported that a "state-ordered information blackout" had taken Myanmar almost entirely offline early Monday.

⚠️ Confirmed: A near-total internet shutdown is in effect in #Myanmar as of 1 a.m. local time; real-time network data show national connectivity at just 14% of ordinary levels following state-ordered information blackout; incident ongoing 📉

📰Background: https://t.co/Jgc20OBk27 pic.twitter.com/wWWVzb0c0G

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 14, 2021

Internet connectivity was later restored around the start of the working day, with NetBlocks saying the blackout lasted around eight hours.

But the monitor noted that most users in Myanmar were still barred from social media.