Myanmar pro-democracy leader, librarian, and physician, Tayzar San along with well-known democracy activists Nan Lin and Khant Wai Phyo, staged an anti-regime election protest at Zay Cho Market in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township on Wednesday. A video of the protest circulated widely on social media on Thursday.
“We cannot rely entirely on armed struggle alone to win the revolution. Mass struggles and mass movements carried out with awareness, mindfulness, courage and wisdom are essential,” Tayzar San shared in a post to his social media account along with the video of the protest in Mandalay on Dec. 3.
Tayzar San, 36, is a key figure in Myanmar’s non-violent resistance to the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. He became known after leading Myanmar’s very first anti-coup protest in Mandalay on Feb. 4, 2021.
The regime in Naypyidaw issued an arrest warrant for Tayzar San in April 2021 under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code for his anti-coup awareness-raising activities. He has been reportedly living in resistance-controlled territories of Myanmar ever since but has staged three flash mob protests in his hometown of Mandalay.
Regime media reported that Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Mandalay on Thursday. “We carried out this mass movement with the participation and protection of the people while the power-hungry Min Aung Hlaing was traveling from Pyin Oo Lwin to Mandalay,” Tayzar San wrote on social media.
A 10 million MMK ($2,237 USD) reward for information leading to his arrest has been placed on him by the regime.
“[Regime forces] are searching for him with orders to kill if caught. So far, we haven’t heard of anyone being arrested [after Wednesday’s protest],” a Mandalay resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Regime authorities reportedly heightened security across the city following the Dec. 3 protest.
The video of the protest shows Tayzar San, Nan Lin, Khant Wai Phyo, and other unnamed activists and Mandalay residents, handing out leaflets to passersby urging Myanmar citizens to boycott the regime’s 2025-26 elections scheduled to begin on Dec. 28 and continue into January 2026.
The leaflets reportedly called on all Myanmar people to join a nationwide silent strike on Dec. 10 to reject regime elections, abolish the military conscription law, and to release all 22,000 political prisoners in Myanmar.
Tayzar San said the election is not an “exit” for the country’s crisis since the 2021 coup but a “trap,” adding that dismantling military dictatorship and building “a federal democratic nation” is a common goal and historical duty for all Myanmar people.
In 2022, Tayzar San won South Korea’s Park Jong-cheol Human Rights Award for contributions to democracy and human rights.
Nan Lin from Yangon and Khant Wai Phyo from Monywa in Sagaing Region, are also wanted by the regime for their anti-coup and awareness-raising activities. They were forced to flee into resistance-controlled territories to avoid arrest and prosecution, like Tayzar San, by the regime since it seized power during the 2021 coup.
