Workers in Myanmar are on a silent revolution. Will the military relent?

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar have mounted a civil disobedience campaign of strikes and they daily arrange impromptu and often creative shows of defiance, which on Sunday included Easter eggs.

Tens of thousands of Myanmar workers have gone on strike over the past two months, hoping that economic paralysis will force the hand of the junta who ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 in a military coup.

These workers include bank employees, doctors, engineers, customs officers, dockers, railway staff and textile workers. They say the junta has forced them to take radical action, even if they cannot march in the streets alongside many of their compatriots.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"Our revolution is silent," they have told AFP.

That continued resistance comes despite repeated appeals -- and threats -- from the military in state media for people to get back to work, and strikers say they are getting stronger.

The chaos is already undermining one of Asia's poorest economies, already battered by the coronavirus pandemic, where a quarter of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

The World Bank is now forecasting a 10 percent contraction in GDP in 2021, a huge step backwards for a country that had seen considerable growth during the democratic transition led by Suu Kyi's civilian government.

On Sunday, opponents of military rule in Myanmar made the Easter egg a symbol of defiance, posting pictures of eggs with slogans after a night of candle-lit vigils across the country to remember those killed.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist group monitoring casualties and arrests since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said the toll of dead had risen to 557.

The AAPP said 2,658 people were in detention, including four women and a man who spoke to a visiting CNN news crew in interviews on the streets of the main city of Yangon last week.

Messages including "We must win", "Spring Revolution" and "Get out MAH" were painted on eggs features in photographs on social media, the last one a reference to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.

Despite the economic turmoil, the junta is still turning a deaf ear to the pleas of the protesters.It is waging its own campaign to control the flow of information and set the message.

It ordered internet providers to cut wireless broadband from Friday, depriving most customers of access, though some messages and pictures were still being posted and shared.

Authorities have also issued arrest warrants for nearly 40 celebrities known for opposing military rule, including social media influencers, singers and models, under a law against inciting dissent in the armed forces.

Suu Kyi is in detention facing charges that could bring 14 years in prison. Her lawyer says the charges are trumped up.

(with inputs from agencies)