now myanmar's military are calling it
anarchy but demonstrators have turned
out in greater numbers than before
in protest against the military coup of
three weeks ago and they do so in
defiance of a clear threat
issued on the state-run tv channel which
declared that protesters will suffer the
loss of life
if they continued in what an army
statement called the path of
confrontation
from neighboring thailand jonathan head
reports
there is no party or institution behind
this movement
no central leadership either
just hundreds of thousands of people
organized through communities and
professions
into a remarkably coordinated show of
opposition
the military government is trying to
present these protests
as the work of a few agitators
hoodwinking young people
into joining today's general strike
set out to prove that wrong
the crowds were big in yangon and in the
capital nipidore
where they faced a formidable wall of
police moving down the capitals
famously oversized highways
but these rallies were replicated in
every corner of myanmar
in the northern state of kachin telashio
in shan state and the ancient temples of
bagan
this was tonji and in the south the
streets of dawei
packed with people and color
in most places the shops and markets
were closed
myanmar's economic life is being badly
disrupted
a price many people say they're willing
to pay
today is a day for country-wide protests
we don't want to stay
under the control of a military
dictatorship so we came here to join the
protest regardless of the salaries we
make
nothing will happen to me if my salary
is cut but if we stay under the control
of a military dictatorship we will
become their slaves
three weeks after the coup public anger
is still burning bright in myanmar
the generals who seized power have
little popular support
thread their legitimacy and their
authority is being challenged every day
on the streets all they have is their
guns
at some point they'll have to decide how
far they're prepared to use them
against so many of their own people
jonathan head bbc news bangkok
well i've spoken directly to the u.s
secretary of state anthony blinken about
the situation in myanmar he said
there's a need for a united
international voice to condemn the
actions of the junta
but he said the pressure may take time
to build and for now the
targeted sanctions is the main form of
action from the united states
that coup uh triggered sanctions from
the united states
very targeted and focused on the
perpetrators of the coup
and uh and companies that support them
we've been working
overtime to work with other countries
to condemn the actions of the military
to call on it to restore power to the
democratically elected government to
release
political prisoners from jail and
certainly not to use violence against
those
standing up for their democratic rights
and we'll see
where that goes but pressure takes time
to be felt to be exerted and
my hope is that as uh more and more
countries come together
in making clear that this is not
acceptable we will see a change
from uh from the military but
uh the hard reality is that democratic
transition has been interrupted against
the will
of the people of myanmar and the
international community needs to speak
clearly with one voice
that's not acceptable that was u.s
secretary of state
anthony blinken there and let's hear
from a student organizer in yangon who's
been out in the streets protesting today
he says
they'll continue to rally and call for
the release of their democratically
elected government despite heavy-handed
threats from the military
we're not worried about their threats
and that's why we are still on the
street
we worry more about the future if we
just enter the military region
i'm afraid of you know more about our
future under the military regime not
their temporary threats on earth strikes
and protests
we're just looking at the images of the
uh protests
there are tens of thousands of people on
the streets
it's incredibly organized these these
protests how are you mobilizing people
given the internet shutdown
uh at first on the first day of you know
the club uh
we communicate each other person to
person when the internet had been shut
down i mean
uh most of the activist organizations
student unions and trade unions
you know already known each other just
to organize the meetings so that's how
we organized during the five years of
the code
but you know after the after the first
tracks on the sit february on yet in
yangon
you know the people organize themselves
and the young
especially the young people you know
that's amazing they organize themselves
on the streets and you know they
they're marching and they protesting
each and every day their stuff you know
without any central leadership
and any you know any any you know
organizational leadership
uh we were just listening there to the
u.s secretary of state anthony blinken
who says that uh
for now it's the method that they will
continue to use
is sanctions and pressure uh on the
generals do you think the international
community is listening to you
i think i i i think yeah yeah i mean
uh that the sen i saw the sentence
starting out and so
the international concern about um yeah
yeah especially the uh china and russia
i mean that they're still communicating
i mean they're still dealing with
military council so
yeah that's the you know the major
challenges for us
that was a student demonstrator let's