[ CNA ] Myanmar’s anti-junta movement shows viral support for Rohingya
Activists and civilians took to social media on Sunday to post pictures of themselves wearing black and flashing a three-finger salute of resistance, in posts tagged “#Black4Rohingya”.
“Justice must (be) served for each of you and each of us in Myanmar,” said prominent rights activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi on Twitter.
By afternoon, the #Black4Rohingya hashtag was trending on Twitter in Myanmar, with more than 180,000 mentions.
Sunday’s show of support from the mostly Buddhist, ethnic Bamar-majority population is a far cry from previous years, when even using the term “Rohingya” was a lightning rod for controversy.
The Myanmar public was largely unsympathetic to the Rohingya’s plight, while activists and journalists reporting on the issues faced vitriolic abuse online.
Prominent Europe-based Rohingya activist Ro Nay San Lwin told AFP the online campaign is a yearly effort to raise awareness – but Sunday was “the first time” he had seen it go viral in Myanmar.
A recent announcement from the shadow National Unity Government – made up of ousted lawmakers working to topple the junta – has also extended an olive branch to the minority group, inviting them to “join hands … to participate in this Spring Revolution”.
The National Unity Government has been branded as “terrorists” by the military regime, while junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has dismissed the word “Rohingya” as “an imaginary term”.