#Easter eggs become symbol of defiance for anti-coup protesters in Myanmar

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs on Sunday, while others were back on the streets, facing off with security forces after a night of candle-lit vigils for hundreds killed since a Feb. 1 coup.

In the latest in a series of impromptu shows of defiance, messages including “We must win”, “Spring Revolution” and “Get out MAH” were seen on eggs in photographs on social media, the latter referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. Easter is not widely observed in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group monitoring casualties and arrests since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said the toll of dead had risen to 557, as of late Saturday.

“People across Burma continued striking for the end of dictatorship, for democracy and human rights,” the group said, using another name for the Southeast Asian country.

Despite the killings, protesters continue to turn out every day in towns big and small to reject the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy. Numerous candle-lit vigils took place on Saturday night.

Early on Sunday, hundreds of people protested in the country’s second city of Mandalay, some on foot, others on motor-bikes, according to images on social media, before police and soldiers moved in to disperse them.

Protesters also gathered in several other towns.

There were no immediate reports of violence.

Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.