?Do or die?: Myanmar?s junta may have stirred up a hornets? nest

On Sunday morning, a small group of protesters walked together in Kyimyindaing township, Yangon, waving bunches of eugenia and roses. They carried a banner reading: "The only real prison is fear and the real freedom is freedom from fear".

The words are famously those of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose sentencing by the junta to two years in detention was announced on Monday.

Minutes after they had gathered, witnesses told local media that a military vehicle rammed into the group. At least five people were killed, according to independent outlet Myanmar Now. Those who survived were arrested - some of the latest of more than 10,700 people to be detained since the February coup.

Almost a year has passed since the military seized power in Myanmar. Yet despite the generals arresting thousands, including the country's elected leaders, and unleashing terror across the country, opposition to the junta remains widespread.

A civil disobedience movement continues to hold small, peaceful flashmob-style protests, while armed groups carry out guerrilla ambushes across the country. Young people have fled to the jungle to train and communities have taken up arms to defend their areas, at times in alliance with existing resistance organisations drawn from ethnic groups in conflict with the military.

The military, Mathieson added, has most likely been taken aback by the scale of opposition. "They must be thinking, what kind of hornets' nest have we stirred here? It has fought for decades against ethnic armed organisations. Now they are now facing normal people, who a year ago wouldn't have countenanced an armed revolt at all."

Dr Sasa, spokesperson for the exiled opposition National Unity Government (NUG), said the public had no choice but to defend itself. "[The military] are not only destroying our democracy and freedom, but they are destroying every day our dignity as human beings. It's, like, do or die."