How Myanmar’s Gen Z flash mobs evade soldiers to protest against junta, rally for Ukraine
- Some 13 months after the military coup, a group of youths are continuing to stage ‘flash mob’ protests in Myanmar’s urban areas that last just a few minutes each
- Their resistance efforts come as a shadow government of MPs in exile has backed multiple militias and ethnic armed organisations in a ‘defensive war’ against the junta
But even as junta chief Min Aung Hlaing chases that goal, a resistance effort by the likes of James (not his real name), a 21-year-old graphic designer, will keep the regime on alert for quite some time yet.
James is among the leaders of a group of youths who are continuing to stage “flash mob” protests in Myanmar’s urban areas, more than 13 months after the military coup.
We know the risks that we could get arrested and tortured to death. But we will not stop
These demonstrations are hard to curb as participants organise themselves through encrypted messaging platforms, and arrive at a protest site with little sign they are there to demonstrate.
Participants usually mill around a bus stop, as if waiting for the bus, or near a bank machine, where queues or crowds are not seen as suspicious by authorities.
Then, they unfurl banners and chant slogans – sometimes with passers-by joining them. The protests tend to last just a few minutes.
In the most recent instance, some flash mob protests took place on Sunday in solidarity with Ukraine in the commercial hub of Yangon, as well as in Dawei in the country’s deep south and Kachin State in the north, reported the news website The Irrawaddy.
