Myanmar troops and weaponry have paraded through the capital Naypyidaw to mark seventy-five years of independence from Britain, just days after the country’s military rulers sent the democratically-elected leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to prison for a combined thirty-three years.
Tanks, missile launchers and armoured cars rolled through the dawn air to a parade ground in the capital today to kick off a military procession marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of independence.
Civil servants and high school students followed the troops, accompanied by a military band.
A twenty-one gun salute greeted the country’s military ruler, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, as he arrived at the parade ground.
Myanmar declared independence from British colonial rule on January 4, 1948, after a long fight championed by General Aung San, the late father of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Independence Day is typically marked with festive street games, marches and gatherings in public parks and spaces. But since the military coup, celebrations of public holidays have been largely muted as people stay at home in protest against the military.
