Myanmar protesters make Easter eggs a symbol of defiance

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs on Sunday while thousands of others were back on the streets, denouncing a Feb. 1 coup and facing off with the security forces who shot and killed at least three men.

In the latest in a series of impromptu shows of defiance, messages including “Spring Revolution”, “We must win” and “Get out MAH” – referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing – were seen on eggs in photographs on social media.

“Easter is all about the future and the people of Myanmar have a great future in a federal democracy,” Dr Sasa, international envoy for the ousted civilian government, said in a statement.

Sasa, who uses only one name, is a member of a largely Christian ethnic minority in the predominantly Buddhist country.

The campaign against the ousting of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi has included protests, a civil disobedience campaign of strikes and quirky acts of rebellion that spread on social media.

Young people in the main city Yangon handed out eggs bearing the messages of protest, pictures in posts showed.

Crowds have come onto the streets day and night, despite a bloody crackdown and round-ups of activist leaders, to reject the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group monitoring casualties and arrests, said the toll of dead had risen to 557, as of late Saturday.

In the capital, Naypyitaw, two men were killed when police fired on protesters on motorbikes, the Irrawaddy news site reported. One man was killed earlier in the northern town of Bhamo, the Myanmar Now news outlet said.

A social media user later posted pictures of what appeared to be a women medic lying wounded and unattended on a street after curfew in the second city Mandalay following a protest there.

Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

A huge crowd, including many women in straw hats, streamed through the central town of Taze chanting slogans, pictures from DVB TV News showed. Crowds were also out in other towns.

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 Yangon last week.

A spokesman for CNN said the network was aware of reports of detentions following the team’s visit and was pressing the authorities for information.