15 May 2026 By Hlaing
SAW, Myanmar — A wave of public outrage has erupted following the circulation of TikTok videos showing Myanmar military personnel parading and verbally abusing bound civilians in the newly occupied town of Saw, Magway Region.
The footage, reportedly uploaded by junta soldiers themselves, shows a young man with his hands tied behind his back being forced to walk through the town’s streets. The soldiers can be heard hurling obscenities and accusing the detainee of being a member of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF).
The military column, consisting of approximately 500 troops from the No. 25 Defense Equipment Factory (Ka-Pa-Sa 25) in Laungshe, moved into Saw on 14 May. Since then, they have established outposts in public halls and residential homes, effectively turning the town into a garrison.
“The town is almost entirely deserted now,” a local resident told MPA. “While some older residents were released, many young men are being held in custody. The boy in the TikTok video is just a local civilian, not a fighter. Most people fled the moment they heard the column was approaching.”
Human rights monitors suggest the use of social media platforms like TikTok to broadcast the mistreatment of detainees is a form of psychological warfare intended to terrorize the local population. Along with the ground occupation, junta forces have been deploying surveillance drones over nearby villages, including Akgyi Katin and Kan Chaung, triggering further displacement.
Despite attempts by local resistance groups to ambush the advancing column, the military’s superior numbers and firepower allowed them to secure the town center. Simultaneously, a second 500-strong column from the Ka-Pa-Sa 24 factory in Pauk is reported to be closing in from the east.
The Yaw region has become a flashpoint of the conflict, with the military increasingly resorting to public humiliation and arbitrary arrests to quell dissent. Resistance groups have issued emergency warnings for civilians to avoid the town of Saw and to remain alert for indiscriminate shelling and drone strikes.
As the junta continues to consolidate its hold on strategic transit routes in western Myanmar, the residents of Saw find themselves living under a regime of fear, where even their suffering is recorded and broadcast for the entertainment of their captors.
