Myanmar's military rulers celebrated the country's Union Day on Saturday with a military parade and the announcement that more than 800 prisoners would be freed from prison.

It was not immediately clear whether anti-coup protesters would be among those released under the amnesty program, although it is unlikely. Pardons are traditional on major holidays

How is Union Day being marked in Myanmar this year?

The day's festivities — marking the end of British colonial rule in 1947 — kicked off with a 4 a.m. mobile internet blackout.

Army units and civil servants marched in a parade later in the morning. Local news reported the junta spent at least $5 million (€4.4 million) to mark the occasion.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing used the occasion to defend his government, saying the military coup last year was necessary to defend the country against enemies both foreign and domestic. In his speech, the military leader claimed Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) had won the 2020 election fraudulently.

He also acknowledged that "the violence in Myanmar is causing chaos and people are suffering."

NLD has said it won democratically, at the ballot box. Suu Kyi remains in detention and thousands of others have been arrested by the junta.

In a Facebook post, protest organizers the General Strike Committee of Nationalities said political prisoners at Insein Prison in Yangon had begun a hunger strike Saturday.

How did Myanmar get here?

The military overthrew civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's democratically-elected government on February 1, 2021.

Since then, at least 1,500 civilians have been killed in a violent crackdown on mass protests against military rule, according to a local monitoring group.

At least 12,000 people have been arrested at the protests.

The latest amnesty is much smaller that the one announced by the military during Union Day last year, when 23,000 people were released.

At the time, the move sparked concerns from rights groups who worried that the move sought to free up space in prison for demonstrators who opposed military rule.

rs, ar/dj (AFP, Reuters)