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Myanmar’s Gen Z protesters defy powerful military with ‘innovative’ signs

  • Young protesters are generating attention with placards bearing colourful language in the largest rallies seen since 2007’s Saffron Revolution
  • Others come dressed in superhero costumes as they express anger against the military, which last week arrested de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup

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Protesters in front of the Central Bank office in Yangon. Photo: Ye Hein and Facebook
As Myanmar’s protests against the military junta gather steam, young demonstrators are turning out in the streets in droves to express their anger against the coup.
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The street rallies that have followed the putsch are the biggest demonstrations the country has seen since 2007’s Saffron Revolution, named after the colour of the robes worn by Buddhist monks who demanded democracy as they protested against the loss of fuel subsidies.

This time around and more than a decade later, the protesters – and the language they are employing – are even more colourful.

A protester holds a sign denouncing Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing in Yangon. Photo: AFP
A protester holds a sign denouncing Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing in Yangon. Photo: AFP
A steady stream of characters, from punk rockers to Harry Potter fans and beauty queens, ‘unicorns’ to superheroes, have marched the streets with cheeky placards featuring some choice words for the junta and its arrest of the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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“Dictatorship? B**** please, I don’t even want a relationship”, read one of the placards. Another, held by a scantily clad woman, suggested that military power lay “under my bikini”.

Photo: Ye Hein and Facebook
Photo: Ye Hein and Facebook
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