Yangon
Smoke, rubble and gunshot wounds have conjured images of Yangon neighbourhoods as “battlegrounds” this week, and though the term helps emphasise the severity of the situation, it can also be slightly misleading.
Pots and pans could be heard well past the usual 8pm chorus last night as Yangon neighbours protected each other from midnight arrests that have accelerated over recent days.
Yangon protestors raising the three-finger salute of resistance called for the fall of the military regime in flash protests across the city yesterday.
It started with a few candles illuminating Yangon balconies at about 6pm and ended with a crescendo of clashing pots and pans – a rejection of the military coup so thunderous that the sound may well have reached Naypyidaw.
Activist group Yangon Bikers’ Revolution sent a petition of 8,000 signatures calling for the legalisation of motorbikes in the city to the country's leaders.
Yangonites in the downtown area may have noticed a flurry of ambulances and fire crews racing north last night – they were heading to a large blaze in Kandawgyi Park.
One of Yangon’s most well-known hotels, Sule Shangri-La, announced today it will close for at least nine months, as it struggles with the Covid-19 impact.
A community of strangers, either stranded in the city or financially ruined by the pandemic, gather at Yangon Central Railway Station for free meals.
Now domestic flights are running again, passengers must be tested 36 hours before taking off and show a negative test certificate before boarding.