Defiant anti-coup protesters held a strike on Burmese Martyr's Day in Myanmar.

The demonstrators urged citizens to 'end the tyranny with the martyr spirit,' holding up portraits of Myanmar's revered fallen heroes as they marched in the Yinmabin township of Sagaing region on July 19.

Martyr's Day is a Burmese national holiday commemorating the leaders said to be instrumental to Myanmar's independence from British rule.

Among the figures celebrated is General Aung San, former prime minister of the pre-independence interim government and widely recognised as the 'Father of the Nation.' He and seven other political leaders were assassinated on July 19, 1947.

He is survived by his daughter, popular democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted and detained by the Burmese military in a coup last February 2021. She is facing electoral fraud charges which are believed to be politically motivated.