Suu Kyi was the figurehead of Myanmar’s decade-long democratic thaw, becoming de facto leader as it opened up from military rule.
“It will be hard to be celebrating at the moment,“ said her 47-year-old son Kim Aris from the UK.
He is running 80 kilometres (50 miles) over the eight days leading up to her birthday, and has collected over 80,000 well-wishing video messages for his mother.
Aris said he has heard from his mother only once via letter two years ago since she was imprisoned.
‘Do you still remember?’
A few masked protestors showered a street with pamphlets reading “freedom from fear” and “happy birthday” as one member help up a portrait of Suu Kyi in shaky camera footage shared on social media.
While Suu Kyi remains hugely popular in the majority Buddhist country, her status as a democracy icon abroad collapsed before the military takeover after she defended the generals in their crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Nonetheless institutions and figures that once showered Suu Kyi with awards rapidly distanced themselves, and her second round of imprisonment has received far less international attention.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, became a champion of democracy almost by accident.
She was locked up for 15 years, most of it in her family’s Yangon lakeside mansion where she still drew crowds for speeches over the boundary wall.
Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and led her National League for Democracy party to electoral victory in 2015, never formally in charge as army-drafted rules kept her from the presidency.
The military has promised new elections at the end of this year, but they are set to be boycotted by many groups comprised of former followers of Suu Kyi’s non-violent vision who have now taken up arms.
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