Myanmar Shadow Govt Issues Defiant Message

Myanmar's shadow government has urged people to keep protesting against what it called the military's "unjust dictatorship" in a recorded video message on Facebook.

"This is the darkest moment of the nation and the light before the dawn is close," said Mahn Win Khaing Than, a high-ranking politician from the National League for Democracy (NLD) party of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mahn Win Khaing Than is the acting vice president of the CRPH group of elected parliamentarians who have largely gone into hiding after the NLD was ousted from power in a military putsch on February 1. The coup has triggered a mass uprising and daily pro-democracy protests.

"This uprising is also the chance for all of us to struggle together hand-in-hand to establish a federal democratic union which we — all ethnic brothers and sisters who have been suffering various kinds of oppression from military dictatorship — have long desired," the 68-year-old said, adding: "We must win the uprising."

More deaths

The statement, his first since the military takeover, comes as anti-coup protesters hold nighttime rallies, defying a nationwide 8 p.m. curfew.

Protests continued into Sunday in several locations.

DPA news agency reported that five people were killed by security forces in a number of cities, citing local media and residents.

On Saturday, at least seven demonstrators were reportedly killed at protests in various cities, including four in Mandalay. The overall death toll is believed to be around 80 so far in some six weeks of protests.

Observers say the actual death toll is likely to be higher, with a number of victims suffering serious gunshot wounds. 

The junta has justified its coup with allegations of widespread fraud in November elections that saw the NLD party win a landslide victory. It has called the formation of the CRPH "high treason," a crime that carries the maximum sentence of 22 years in jail.

CRPH stands for "Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw" — the Burmese word for the country's governing bloc.