In military-ruled Myanmar, there seemed to be a new criminal offence this week: wearing a flower in one’s hair on June 19.
Pro-democracy activists say more than 130 people, most of them women, have been arrested for participating in a “flower strike” marking the birthday of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader who was ousted by Myanmar’s military in a February 2021 coup.
Imprisoned by the junta since then, Ms Suu Kyi turned 78 on Monday.
The protest – a clear, if unspoken, rebuke of the junta – drew nationwide support, and many shops were reported to have sold all their flowers.
Most of the arrests occurred on Monday, but they continued through the week as the military tracked down participants and supporters.
In some cities and towns, soldiers seized women in the streets for holding a flower or wearing one in their hair.
Some were beaten, witnesses said. The police have also been rounding up people who took to Facebook to post a birthday greeting or a photo of themselves with a flower.
Mr Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called the campaign the latest example of the “paranoia and intolerance” of Myanmar’s military rulers.
“It’s astonishing the junta hasn’t figured out that such tactics are backfiring by redoubling people’s determination to fully and finally push the military out of power, regardless of the cost,” Mr Robertson said.
The junta is facing an increasingly well-armed resistance from pro-democracy forces allied with rebel ethnic armies.
The military has responded with brutal attacks on civilians, including air strikes on public gatherings.
More than 19,000 political prisoners are in custody, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group.
Ms Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize as a dissident in 1991, and she is still widely admired in Myanmar, though her defence of the military’s bloody crackdown on Rohingya Muslims when she led the civilian government tarred her image as an international human rights icon. (StraitsTimes)