Carrying just a small bag, Mya Aye was escorted from his home in the dead of the night by Myanmar soldiers just as an internet blackout shrouded the country and a dawn coup ousted its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military takeover stunned the world and brought a decade-long democratic experiment to a shuddering halt, but for the lifelong democracy activist and other veteran critics of the country's generals, this week's events were all too familiar.

"He prepared a little backpack by the door with clothes and toothpaste," said Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, the daughter of Mya Aye, of her father's contingency plan in the event that whispered rumours of an imminent putsch proved true.

"He was arrested twice before so it's something he is used to."

Mya Aye is one of the leaders of the 88 Generation, a veteran pro-democracy group that came of age during an uprising against junta rule in 1988.

That protest culminated in a brutal crackdown that saw thousands gunned down by soldiers and the rise of Suu Kyi as the national avatar of resistance to military rule.

Now 54, Mya Aye has been in and out of prison for his activism ever since.

He is among more than a dozen activists and pro-democracy figures who have been detained by the new regime this week, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The Yangon-based monitoring group says more than 130 officials and lawmakers have also been nabbed, with other arrest reports yet to be confirmed.

It is unclear whether more detentions will follow, but news of the arrests has already cast a pall of fear over the country.

"Activists and independent journalists have fled their homes and are now in hiding after receiving tip-offs that... they could be arrested at any time," said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

- 'Going backwards' -

Before the generals loosened their grip on the country in 2011, Myanmar had been ruled by the military for 49 consecutive years.

Its tentative move to democracy and opening to the outside world meant a sudden flood of cheap SIM cards, giving an information-hungry people access to mobile internet at the same time as decades-old censorship laws were relaxed.

But by Saturday, Myanmar had been plunged into its second internet shutdown of the week, almost completely halting the frenetic flow of news out of the country.

Relatives of prominent dissidents are also scared to fall afoul of the new military administration, making it difficult to confirm other rumoured arrests.

For the nephew of Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, a filmmaker previously jailed for criticising Myanmar's military-drafted constitution, it is clear his uncle was nabbed the night of the coup because of his high standing with the public.

"I think they arrested all dissidents who could share the right information to the public," said Khaung Satt Naing, adding that authorities refuse to share his uncle's whereabouts.

Po Po, the wife of a former prominent student union leader who was detained on Monday, said she had not heard from her husband and was worried about his health.

But she told AFP she fully supported Min Thway Thit's championing of the democratic cause.

"A military coup means we're going backwards... I want to call for the immediate release of (all) who are currently arrested," she said.

- 'Not the life we want' -

Her calls have been echoed by the international community, including US President Joe Biden who have demanded the generals "relinquish power".

Wai Hnin Pwint Thon -- herself an activist with the Burma Campaign UK lobby group -- says Western countries need to impose new targeted sanctions to military-linked institutions and businesses.

She says she does not want other Myanmar people to live through the imprisonment of their loved ones.

"The first time I saw my dad was when I was four years old through iron bars at Insein prison," said the 32-year-old, who still has no idea about her father's current whereabouts.

"The next generation (could) live through this again," she added. "Children will go see their parents behind bars -- this is not the life we want."

Myanmar anti-coup protests grow as army broadens internet crackdown
Yangon (AFP) Feb 6, 2021 - Myanmar saw its largest anti-coup protests yet on Saturday with young demonstrators spilling on to the streets to denounce the country's new military regime, despite a nationwide internet blackout aimed at stifling a growing chorus of popular dissent.

Soon before nearly all lines of communication in and out of the country went dark, an Australian advisor to ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi told media he had been detained.

The shutdown did not stop thousands of demonstrators from gathering across Myanmar's largest city on Saturday, beginning on a road near Yangon University where many flashed the three-finger salute that has come to symbolise resistance to the army takeover.

"Down with the military dictatorship!" crowds yelled, many donning red headbands -- the colour associated with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

A large riot police contingent blocked nearby roads, with two water cannon trucks parked at the scene.

At least two other groups of demonstrators marched south to downtown Yangon's Sule Pagoda, carrying posters of Suu Kyi and president Win Myint to call for their release.

The protests ended by dusk, and demonstrators have vowed to return to the streets Sunday.

Further north in Mandalay, as many as 2,000 people were also protesting, AFP reporters on the ground said.

All were out to condemn dawn raids that brought a sudden halt to the country's 10-year experiment with democracy on Monday, just as lawmakers elected in national polls last November were due to sit in parliament for the first time.

"They don't respect our people's votes and I think they are betraying the country," one protester told AFP. "Our revolution starts today."

Australian professor Sean Turnell became the latest figure associated with Suu Kyi -- and the first confirmed foreign national -- to be detained.

"I'm just being detained at the moment, and perhaps charged with something. I don't know what that would be," Turnell, a longtime economic advisor to the Nobel laureate, told the BBC.

- 'First contact' -

Online calls to protest the army takeover have prompted bold displays of defiance, including the nightly deafening clamour of people around the country banging pots and pans -- a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil.

"We only want the elected government of the parties that won the election," said a street vendor Kyi Lwin late Friday night.

"We reject this kind of military dictatorship."

Some have shown their opposition in group photographs with banners decrying the coup and flashing a three-finger salute earlier adopted by democracy protesters in neighbouring Thailand.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a special envoy to the country had made "first contact" with Myanmar's deputy military commander to urge the junta to return power to the civilian government.

State media in Myanmar reported Saturday that officials had spoken with diplomats the previous day to respond to the international outcry.

- Civil disobedience -

As protests gathered steam, the junta ordered telecom networks to freeze users out of access to Facebook, arguably the country's main mode of communication.

"We strongly urge the authorities to order the unblocking of all social media services," a Facebook representative said.

"The people of Myanmar need access to important information and to be able to communicate with their loved ones."

The platform had hosted a rapidly growing "Civil Disobedience Movement" forum calling for strikes at civil service offices and hospitals.

The military widened its efforts to stifle dissent on Friday when it demanded new blocks on other social media services including Twitter.

Norway-based Telenor said Saturday it had complied with an order instructing telecoms to shut down the country's entire mobile data network.

"We have employees on the ground and our first priority is to ensure their safety," a statement from the firm said.

Some internet-savvy users had managed to circumvent the social media block with VPN services but by midday online traffic had slowed to a standstill.

"People in Myanmar have been forced into a situation of abject uncertainty," said Ming Yu Hah of Amnesty.

"An expanded internet shutdown will put them at greater risk of more egregious human rights violations at the hands of the military," she added.

An immensely popular figure despite a tarnished reputation in the West, Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the coup, but a party spokesman said Friday she was under house arrest and "in good health".

US President Joe Biden was among world leaders this week to demand the generals "relinquish power... release advocates and activists and officials they have detained, lift the restrictions in telecommunications, and refrain from violence".

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

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Facebook disrupted in Myanmar as UN chief says coup must fail
Yangon (AFP) Feb 4, 2021
Myanmar's generals ordered internet providers to restrict access to Facebook on Thursday, days after they seized power, as UN chief Antonio Guterres said the world must rally to ensure the military putsch fails. The Southeast Asian nation was plunged back into direct military rule on Monday as de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders were detained in a series of dawn raids, ending the country's brief experiment with democracy. The coup sparked international condemnation and fe ... read more