Yangon – Myanmar’s junta said Wednesday it is hunting 10 activists who staged an anti-election protest, pursuing them under laws punishing organised dissent against the poll with up to a decade in prison.
This summer, the junta enacted new legislation dictating prison sentences up to 10 years for group protests against the election.
A junta statement said eight men and two women were being hunted after “shouting and scattering leaflets written in opposition to the elections” in Mandalay city last Wednesday.
The group intended “to cause the public to misunderstand election-related activities” the statement said, adding “efforts are continuing to arrest and take action against the perpetrators”.
The protestors include Tayzar San, a leader of Mandalay’s post-coup pro-democracy movement who has long eluded capture by military authorities.
As the junta prepares for sham poll, violence is surging. 12 killed, 91 injured, 50 homes & schools destroyed, 30 air attacks in 3 months. This is terror under electoral disguise. The world must not legitimize a vote built on fear, bloodshed & war crimes. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/BVBm4osOQO
— ChinHumanRightsOrg (@ChinHumanRights) December 5, 2025
A video on his account on Facebook – a platform blocked in Myanmar since the coup – showed a gaggle of protestors flinging colourful pamphlets into the air at a dawn street market.
“The dictatorial system is the common enemy of the country,” shouts Tayzar San, his fist raised in the air.
Myanmar opposition groups have called for more protests nationwide on Wednesday to coincide with Human Rights Day, asking citizens to vacate public spaces in a “silent protest”.
Mahn Winn Khaing Thann – prime minister of the self-declared “National Unity Government” staffed by many lawmakers ousted in the coup — said in a video message “the movement is intended to firmly and emphatically reveal that the entire populace boycotts the military’s unlawful, sham election”.
But in downtown Yangon – a hotbed of post-coup protests which were swiftly crushed by the junta — traffic hummed as usual and election officials plastered pro-vote posters on bus shelters.
“Every shop from our market area is opened today as usual,” said one shopkeeper near a Yangon market, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
“Owners will be in trouble if they close,” he added.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won the 2020 elections by a landslide, but the military quashed the result, jailed the Nobel Peace Prize winner and dissolved her party.
A report by the UN human rights office said “since the coup, the military has routinely suppressed peaceful assemblies through violence and intimidation, making them increasingly rare and risky”.
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Source: AFP
