Northern and southern Shan ethnic armed organisations held brief celebrations Thursday for the 62nd Shan Revolution Day amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Lt-Col Oum Khur, the spokesperson for the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), told SHAN that although the numbers for this year’s celebration were reduced because of COVID-19 restrictions, leaders and soldiers who gathered at their Loi Tai Leng headquarters in southern Shan State still “remembered their history.”

During the anniversary, the soldiers offered food to the monks. A memorial wreath was placed on a martyrs memorial monument. Later, the soldiers received prizes.

In Northern Shan State, in Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army’s (SSPP/SSA) Wan Hai headquarters, leaders delivered speeches about the revolution.

Sai Lieng, a Shan youth living in Wan Hai, told SHAN that the soldiers and everyone else who attended were required to wear masks at the event and wash their hands before assembling. Social distancing was adhered to during the event, with participants sitting six feet apart from each other.

Shan Revolution Day commemorates when the Shan took up the armed struggle on May 21, 1958, to fight for autonomy after the Burmese government failed to honour the 1947 Panglong Agreement.

According to the Ministry of Health and Sports, there are 201 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Burma, while 116 have recovered, and 6 people have died from the disease.