2 Myanmar protesters killed by police fire
Riot police shot dead two anti-coup protesters who fired live bullets on Saturday in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, local media reported.
One of the victims was shot in the head and died at the scene, according to Frontier Myanmar, a news and business magazine based in Yangon, the country’s largest city. Another was shot in the chest and died on the way to the hospital.
Several other serious injuries were also reported. The shootings occurred near Mandalay’s Yadanabon Pier, where tear gas and rubber bullets were used against protesters earlier that day.
The Irrawaddy news website also confirmed the deaths on social media.
Security forces had been increasing their pressure against anti-coup protesters early Saturday, using water cannons, tear gas, slingshots, and rubber bullets against striking protesters and dockworkers in Mandalay.
At least five people were injured by rubber bullets and had to be transported by ambulances, according to an Associated Press journalist who witnessed the violence.
About 500 policemen and soldiers arrived in the area near the Yadanabon pier after dockworkers joined the national civil disobedience movement, refusing to work until the military junta that took power in a coup on February 1. reinstate the democratically elected government.
Protesters and residents were forced to flee the neighborhood amid violence, while security forces pursued them.
There were reports of sounds resembling gunshots. A group of journalists was forced to flee after receiving tear gas and slingshots.
Earlier in the week in Mandalay, security forces cracked down on state rail workers in a similar fashion after they joined the civil disobedience movement.
Less than an hour after the curfew began at 8 p.m. Wednesday, shots rang out as more than two dozen police officers in shields and helmets marched in front of the railroad workers’ homes. Numerous videos posted on social media showed mouth flashes when shots were heard, and some policemen fired slingshots and threw stones at buildings. Marching chants of “left, right, left, right” could be heard along with shouts of “shoot, shoot.”
Also on Saturday, anti-coup protesters in Myanmar’s two largest cities paid tribute to a young woman who died a day earlier after being shot by police during a demonstration against the military takeover.
A makeshift memorial created under a causeway in Yangon drew about 1,000 protesters. A bright yellow wreath was hung below a photograph of Mya Thwet Thwet Khine, who was shot in the capital Naypyitaw on February 9, two days before her 20th birthday.
His death on Friday, announced by his family, was the first confirmed death among thousands of protesters who have clashed with the security forces since senior military commander Min Aung Hlaing assumed power in the coup.
Protesters at the monument chanted and held up banners reading “End the dictatorship in Myanmar” and “You will be remembered Mya Thwet Thwet Khine.” Supporters also placed roses and rose petals on the images of the woman.
The video of the day he was shot shows taking shelter from water cannons and suddenly falling to the ground after a bullet penetrated the helmet of the motorcycle he was wearing. He had been on life support in a hospital for more than a week, with doctors saying there was no chance of recovery.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price offered his government’s condolences on Friday and reiterated calls on the military to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters.
In Mandalay on Saturday, a protest led by university medical students drew more than 1,000 people, many of whom also carried flowers and images of Mya Thwet Thwet Khine.
Others carried signs that read “MDL,” in reference to the nationwide civil disobedience movement that has encouraged doctors, engineers, and others to protest the coup by refusing to work.
Across the country, protests showed no signs of slowing down despite recent crackdowns by the military government, including a sixth consecutive night in which the internet was cut off for many hours.
Protesters also gathered elsewhere in Yangon, chanting and holding banners and pictures of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose democratically elected government was toppled.
Aerial images taken on Friday showed streets in Yangon painted with the words “The military dictatorship must fall” in Burmese and “We want democracy” and “Free our leaders” in English.
The security forces have so far been relatively restrained in confronting protesters in Yangon but appeared to be hardening their stance in areas where there is fewer media presence.
Police used force for the second day in a row on Friday to arrest protesters in Myitkyina, the capital of the remote northern state of Kachin. The Kachin ethnic minority has long been in conflict with the central government and there has been an intermittent armed struggle against the army there for decades.
The junta seized power after detaining Suu Kyi and preventing parliament from the meeting, saying the November elections were tainted by voting irregularities. The election result, in which Suu Kyi’s party overwhelmingly won, was confirmed by an electoral commission that has since been replaced by the military. The board says it will hold new elections within a year.
The governments of the United States, Britain, and Canada have imposed sanctions on the new military leaders, and they and other nations have called for the Suu Kyi administration to be reinstated.
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