The junta has ramped up arbitrary arrests in Sagaing Region’s Kale (Kalay) Town, following the traditional Thingyan New Year water festival celebrations from 13 to 16 April 2025.

Prior to Thingyan the junta had been arresting and abducting young people who they were targeting for conscription. However, since the Thingyan celebrations the junta has increased the number of adults and children it arbitrarily arrests and detains.

A resident of Kale Town explained how this year’s Thingyan festivities in the town had been more lively and celebratory than in recent years.

They said: ““During the Thingyan period in Kale Town, many adults, youths, and children took part in the celebrations. Young people who are eligible for conscription were also seen riding around the town in vehicles. For the past four years, Thingyan was not celebrated with such liveliness due to various reasons, so this time, it felt like people were making up for the lost years. Videos of the celebrations were widely shared on social media.”

But according to the resident, the junta used the carefree Thingyan celebrations to pinpoint young people for later forced conscription.

They said: “It seems the junta had been monitoring the event for intelligence purposes, and as a result, there has been an increase in arrests since then. These arrests are now happening more frequently than the previous conscription-related abductions. We hear about new cases almost every day.”

Following the Thingyan celebrations junta troops flooded into the streets, public recreational areas such as parks and even pubs of Kale Town, arresting people of all ages.

On one occasion, near the Aden Swimming Pool in downtown Kale, on 16 April, three young men were arrested for no apparent reason after many junta soldiers carried out strict checks on pedestrians under the pretence of looking for people’s defence force (PDF) members they alleged were in the area.

Also since Thingyan in Kale Town, junta soldiers have increased their early evening house to house searches that they carry out under the pretext of looking for unregistered overnight guests, especially in Tatoo Thida Ward.

But, even before Thingyan the junta had been arbitrarily arresting  young people in Kale Town, it has just got worse since then.

On 12 April, the day before Thingyan, junta soldiers arrested seven youths in Kale Town’s Aung Thitsar Ward. Also on the same day soldiers raided homes and arrested people in the town’s Mingalar Ooyin Ward and Kyeekone Village, not far from the town.

Though there is currently no fighting in Kale Town, in the southern part of Kale Township there has been fighting and junta airstrikes in and around villages controlled by resistance forces.