COVID PROTESTS EVERYWHERE: Even in chaotic Myanmar, protests ERUPT over COVID-19 policies, mandates

A protest erupted at a prison in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon on Friday against what activists said was against rising COVID-19 infections.

This prison is used to hold opponents of February’s military takeover. It was one of the first protests of its kind since the Feb 1 coup in the Southeast Asian country, where people across the country demonstrate daily against military rule. Protest chants in opposition to the ruling junta could be heard from inside prison early on Friday in videos recorded from outside the prison and posted by local residents to Facebook.

“End the dictatorship! Our cause! Protest, protest! Start, start! Revolution! Must prevail!” the call-and-response chant went. “A riot happened in the prison,” Myanmar Prison Department’s Deputy Director Chan Nyein Kyaw told state-run news outlet Myawaddy. “There was a negotiation and accepted the prisoners’ demands and requests.”

Prison spokesperson Zaw Zaw did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment on Friday about the protest and the report that the military had intervened. He told local media the protest had been brought under control.