Defiant anti-junta protesters took to the streets to commemorate the memory of a slain student activist who was executed by the Burmese dictatorship 46 years ago.

The masked demonstrators held up a coloured smoke flare as they declared their resistance against brutal military rule in Yangon City on June 26. While doing a three-fingered salute - a gesture of defiance activists have adopted from the film series 'The Hunger Games' - they shouted: 'We will never kneel down to your military boots!'

These were reportedly the last words of student leader Salai Tin Maung Oo, who was ordered hanged by autocrat leader Ne Win in 1976.

The struggle between armed militias and the Burmese military has intensified amid the political turmoil in Myanmar caused by the ousting of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Around the country, thousands of civilians are said to have been killed during military crackdowns on protests.