At least two anti-coup protesters in Myanmar have been shot dead by riot police, emergency workers have said, amid continuing demonstrations demanding an end to military rule and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
The deaths, in the country’s second-largest city Mandalay, mark the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of increasingly fraught protests as a civil disobedience movement grows.
One of the victims was shot in the head and died at the scene, according to Frontier Myanmar. The other, identified by relatives as Thet Naing Win, a 36-year-old carpenter, was shot in the chest and died en route to the hospital.
“I cannot bring him back home. Although my husband died, I still have my son,” his wife, Thidar Hnin, said. “I haven’t been involved in this movement yet but now I am going to ... I am not scared now.”
Several other serious injuries were also reported. The shootings occurred near the Yadanabon dock, where teargas and rubber bullets were used on protesters earlier in the day.
Some 500 police and soldiers descended on the area near the dock after workers joined the national civil disobedience movement, refusing to work until the military junta that seized power in a 1 February coup reinstates the democratically elected government.
Banging pots and pans in what has become a signature gesture of defiance, protesters started yelling at the police to leave and some fired catapults. But police opened fire with live rounds, rubber bullets and slingshot balls, forcing the protesters to flee.
“Twenty people were injured and two are dead,” said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service agency.
Dominic Raab, the UK’s foreign secretary, has condemned the shooting of protesters. He wrote on Twitter: “The shooting of peaceful protesters in Myanmar is beyond the pale.
“We will consider further action, with our international partners, against those crushing democracy & choking dissent.”
Police in Mandalay were supported by soldiers from the 33rd Light Infantry Division, according to reports by Frontier Myanmar. This same division was also involved in brutal atrocities committed against the Rohingya in 2017 – a crackdown that has since led to a genocide case in The Hague.
“The fact [the unit] is still operational anywhere is a serious problem. This is what happens without justice and accountability,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive of Fortify Rights.
Much of the country has been in uproar since the civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was deposed, with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets to protest against the junta.
Authorities have arrested hundreds of people, many of them civil servants who have also been boycotting work as part of a civil disobedience campaign.
Since the nationwide protests started two weeks ago, authorities in some cities have deployed teargas, water cannon and rubber bullets against demonstrators. There have previously been isolated incidents of live rounds being fired.
An anti-coup protester, Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, 20, who was shot in the head during a 9 February demonstration in Naypyidaw, died on Friday, the first fatality among opponents of the coup, after being on life support. Her doctors had confirmed to AFP that her injury was from a live bullet. The army says one policeman died of injuries sustained in another protest.
Khaing has become a symbol of resistance, with supporters carrying her photo in demonstrations. “We will regard you as our martyr,” said one social media tribute to the young grocery store worker. “We will bring justice for your loss.”
The US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have announced limited sanctions, with a focus on military leaders, including banning travel and freezing assets. Japan and India have joined western countries in calling for democracy to be restored quickly, amid calls for the Burmese military to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters.
The junta has not reacted to the new sanctions. On Tuesday, an army spokesperson told a news conference that sanctions had been expected.
The country emerged from its sixth straight overnight internet curfew on Saturday, a measure imposed as neighbourhoods around the country began setting up watch groups to guard against evening arrests.
Elsewhere on Saturday, several thousand protesters gathered in the northern town of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, where police and soldiers have in recent days used batons and rubber bullets to break up crowds.
Crowds marched again through the ancient capital of Bagan and in Pathein town, in the Irrawaddy river delta.
Protesters have been demanding the restoration of the elected government, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others and the scrapping of a 2008 constitution – drawn up under military supervision – that gives the army a decisive role in politics.
The protests come despite some misgivings about Aung San Suu Kyi’s commitment to ethnic minority aspirations for autonomy, community representatives said. She has been widely criticised internationally for not condemning the military’s brutal suppression of the minority Rohingyas.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, like the top generals, is a member of the majority Burman community.
Ke Jung, a youth leader from the Naga minority and organiser of the Saturday protest by the minorities in the main city of Yangon, said some minority parties were not committed to the movement against the coup.
“It’s a reflection of how Aung San Suu Kyi failed to build alliances with ethnic political parties,” he said. “However, we must win this fight. We stand together with the people. We will fight until the end of dictatorship.” He added that the demonstrators were demanding a federal system.
Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said 546 people had been detained, with 46 released, as of Friday.
Aung San Suu Kyi faces a charge of violating a natural disaster management law as well as charges of illegally importing six walkie talkie radios. Her next court appearance has been set for 1 March.
February 20, 2021 at 12:24PM
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/20/us-calls-for-myanmar-junta-to-stop-violence-in-wake-of-protesters-death
Myanmar coup: at least two protesters shot dead by riot police - The Guardian
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