Went out this morning. The streets were relatively quiet with neighbors having coffee and light meals at my local caf where the same monk sits and stares into the road in contemplative silence, occasionally lighting a cigarette. Older men gather on street corners exchanging information and some relive the days' previous horrors on their phones where the screams and gunshots crackle from speakers whilst young and old alike nervously walk up and down the street heading back home or to the market to buy fresh produce from stalls.
Today was the first-morning l have been out since... l can't remember, ah yes yesterday. Time in a pandemic and a coup tends to move ever swiftly onwards but you, well you have lost your anchor your structure, your everyday. I sat at the caf on the corner opposite my street for the first time since l moved to Myanmar (a year) and stared vacantly into space drinking a very small paper cup of instant coffee. The monk is in his usual place casually smoking a cigarette and those sat on the table next to mine chatter away periodically breaking off to check their phones.
While l was there l noticed youths gathering, checking on the police, trying to anticipate their next move. Would they be able to escape and take to the streets to protest again? Last night l received a text informing me that 600 police were targeting Sanchaung Township: we were instructed to open our buildings and allow them to carry out a door-to-door check. I write 'check' - it was certainly not that, it was an illegal mass raid to locate young protesters. As l returned to my flat l saw a gathering of protesters at the entrance of the street one away from mine waiting for confirmation as to whether they could move or not.
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