YANGON: Census takers guarded by police and soldiers took to the streets of Myanmar on Wednesday (Oct 2) for a national survey that anti-junta groups have urged people to boycott.
The ruling junta is pressing ahead with the census even though it has lost control of large areas of the country to armed groups opposed to its rule.
Bloody conflict rages across much of Myanmar, but the junta says the survey is needed to update voter lists ahead of promised elections in 2025.
Teams of enumerators accompanied by soldiers and armed police went door to door in Yangon to fill in the 68-question survey.
“School teachers, local authorities, police and local militias members are taking the census. Militias who attended basic military training are helping for security in their area,” a military officer told AFP, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“We have tightened security when taking census because of the threats by terrorists.”
