12 killed as Myanmar forces continue crackdown on protesters
4 killed as Myanmar forces continue crackdown on protesters
Anti-coup protesters practise a defence formation with makeshift shields during a demonstration in Yangon on Saturday, Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: AP)
MANDALAY, Myanmar: Security forces in Myanmar on Saturday (Mar 13) again met protests against last month’s military takeover with lethal force, killing at least four people by shooting live ammunition at demonstrators.
Five people were shot dead and several injured when police opened fire on a sit-in protest in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-biggest city, witnesses told Reuters.
Five people were shot dead and several injured when police opened fire on a sit-in protest in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-biggest city, witnesses told Reuters.
Another person was killed in the central town of Pyay and two died in police firing in the commercial capital Yangon, where three were also killed overnight, domestic media reported.
"They are acting like they are in a war zone, with unarmed people," said Mandalay-based activist Myat Thu. He said the dead included a 13-year-old child.
Si Thu Tun, another protester, said he saw two people shot, including a Buddhist monk. "One of them was hit in the pubic bone, another was shot to death terribly," he said.
In Pyay, a witness said security forces initially stopped an ambulance from reaching those who were injured, leading to one death.
A truck driver in Chauk, a town in the central Magwe Region, also died after being shot in the chest by police, a family friend said.
The independent United Nations human rights expert for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said on Thursday that “credible reports” indicated security forces in the country had so far killed at least 70 people, and cited growing evidence of crimes against humanity since the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Reports on social media also said that three people were shot dead on Friday night in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, where residents for the past week have been defying an 8pm curfew to come out on the streets.
Two deaths by gunfire were reported in Yangon’s Thaketa township, where a protest being held outside a police station was dispersed.
A crowd had gathered there to demand the release of three young men who were seized from their home earlier on Friday night.
Photos said to be of the bodies of two dead protesters were posted online.
The other reported fatality on Friday night was of a 19-year-old man shot in Hlaing township.
The night-time protests may reflect a more aggressive approach to self-defence that has been advocated by some protesters.
Police had been aggressively patrolling residential neighbourhoods at night, firing into the air and setting off stun grenades in an effort at intimidation.
They have also been carrying out targeted raids, taking people from their homes with minimal resistance. In at least two known cases, the detainees died in custody within hours of being taken away.
Another possible indication of heightened resistance emerged on Saturday with photos posted online of a railway bridge said to have been damaged by an explosive charge.
The bridge was described in multiple accounts as being on the rail line from Mandalay to Myitkyina, the capital of the northern state of Kachin. The photos show damage to part of a concrete support.
No one took responsibility for the action, but it could serve a dual purpose.
It could be seen as support for the nationwide strike of state railway workers, who are part of the civil disobedience movement against the coup.
At the same time, it could be aimed as disrupting the ability of the junta to reinforce its troops in Kachin, a state whose residents have long been at odds with the central government.
The Kachin ethnic minority fields its own well-trained and equipped guerrilla force, and there has been outrage in Myitkyina at security forces’ killing of anti-coup protesters there.
The prospect of sabotage has been openly discussed by some protesters, who warn that they could blow up a pipeline supplying natural gas to China. They see China as being the junta’s main supporter, even though Beijing has been mildly critical of the coup in its public comments.
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In Washington on Friday, the Biden administration announced it is offering temporary legal residency to people from Myanmar, citing the military’s takeover and ongoing deadly force against civilians.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the designation of temporary protected status for people from Myanmar would last for 18 months.
The offer of temporary legal residency applies to people already in the United States. Mayorkas said in a statement that worsening conditions in Myanmar would make it difficult for those people to safely return home.
The Feb 1 coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades had languished under strict military rule that led to international isolation and sanctions.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party led a return to civilian rule with a landslide election victory in 2015, and an even greater margin of votes last year.
The NLD would have been installed for a second five-year term last month, but instead Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other members of the government were placed in military detention.
