Wireless Internet service now closed in Myanmar amid protests against military coup

 

Wireless broadband Internet services in Myanmar were shut down on Friday at the behest of the army. A local service provider provided this information. Protesters continue to protest against the handing over of the power junta. According to a statement posted online by local service provider Oredu, a directive issued by the Ministry of Transport and Communications on Thursday has asked all wireless broadband data services to be temporarily shut down until further notice.

Fiber-based landline internet connections are still working but at a very slow pace. On Friday itself, the New York-based human rights watchdog released a report saying that Myanmar's army has forcibly vanished hundreds of people, including leaders, election officials, journalists, activists and protesters, and where they are in violation of international law Is or has refused to let lawyers and their family members reach them.

Demand for economic sanctions

, Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said, "The widespread use of arbitrary arrests and forcible disappearances by the military junta seems to have instilled fear in anti-coup protesters. He said, the concerned governments should demand the release of each missing person and impose targeted economic sanctions against the junta leaders to ultimately hold this tyrannical army responsible. The crisis in the southeastern Asian nation intensified last week, both in terms of the killing of protesters and the number of military airstrikes against guerrilla forces of the Karen racial minority.