Myanmar’s generals face growing protests against their coup

IT WAS DIFFICULT to hear the commander-in-chief over the din. Every night since the army toppled Myanmar’s civilian government on February 1st, people all over the country have banged pots and pans at 8pm, turning a traditional ritual to cast out evil spirits into a political protest. On February 8th, at 8pm, the head ghoul made his first televised address since the coup. Those who were not drumming kitchenware or slapping the image of the general on their TV screens with their slippers would have heard Min Aung Hlaing trying to reassure the public. There would be no change in government policy, he said, and elections would be held in a year. His interim government would be “different”, he pledged, from the oppressive junta that had preceded Myanmar’s ten-year experiment with democracy.