PROTESTERS in Myanmar closed businesses and emptied the streets today with a silent strike against military rule and increasing violence in the country.

Local media reports showed deserted streets and markets in towns across Myanmar, while protesters dressed in black marched in silence in the northern city of Shwebo.

Protest leader Khin Sandar said: “We need to send a message to the world about Myanmar’s terrible human rights violations.

“Silence is the loudest shout. We want our rights back. We want revolution. We express sadness for our fallen heroes.”

Minn Khant Kyaw Linn, a student activist of the General Strikes Collaboration Body, said that there had been widespread participation in the silent strike, which lasted six hours.

“You can see how much people hate the junta,” he added.

The action coincided with International Human Rights Day.

The government of Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted by a military coup in February, setting off daily protests – often met with violence – in towns and cities nationwide.

Fighting has also broken out in border areas between the military and ethnic minority insurgents.

Ms Suu Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy face various charges. She was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for incitement and breaching coronavirus regulations.

The military government also denied reports today that its troops had massacred 11 civilians in the country’s north-west.

Soldiers allegedly rounded up and murdered people whose charred bodies were later discovered by villagers.

Photos and videos of smouldering corpses in the village of Done Taw in the Sagaing region circulated widely, sparking outrage.

Independent media in Myanmar, generally forced to operate underground due to government restrictions and intimidation, published accounts of the killings based on interviews with witnesses and residents of the area.

According to the reports, the massacre is believed to have been carried out in retaliation for an attack on government forces by a local unit of the People’s Defence Force, a lightly armed militia that confronts the junta’s security personnel.

A report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper accused “the nation-destroying” independent media of spreading a video that it said misrepresented the incident.