Thousands of anti-coup protesters are released

The military announced plans to release 5,600 prisoners, days after the junta chief was blocked from attending an upcoming Asean regional summit over his failure to commit to de-escalating Myanmar’s crisis.

The release of people arrested or subject to arrest warrants for taking part in anti-coup protests since the military seized power in February was announced on state TV on Monday. Later that evening, the first of the prisoners were freed.

It was not immediately clear how long it would take to free all those scheduled for release.