Myanmar protesters make roadblocks as military crackdown escalates

Footage shows roadblocks in Myanmar today (March 13) as protesters use the blockades to prevent soldiers from moving freely through the streets.

Footage shows roadblocks in Myanmar today (March 13) as protesters use the blockades to prevent soldiers from moving freely through the streets.

The ‘Mad Max’ style fortresses are built with railings, scrap metal and pieces of wood across the former capital Yangon, or Rangoon as many locals still call it.

Demonstrators bang on them and chant anti-military slogans while displaying posters of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Members of the resistance against the military coup are also hanging items of women’s clothing called ‘longyi’ and underwear across the street.

Local superstition is that it is bad luck to walk under and emasculating – a belief that many soldiers still hold.

Those involved in the protest say the clothing prevents soldiers from passing under it and gives them more time to escape if troops arrive during crackdown patrol marches.

One 20-year-old protester said that there is a belief that ‘if we pass underneath a longyi, we might lose our luck’.

While the protesters do not follow the superstition, military and security forces tend to believe it.

The clotheslines of women’s garments have now become a familiar sight across the city, which has been devastated by protests which began when military chiefs ousted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February.

Unrest has spread across Myanmar with hundreds feared dead amid violent crackdowns from the army, which has used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds on crowds of people.

International pressure on Myanmar has escalated with the U.S. government imposing sanctions on the country to strengthen its response to the military coup.