At least five protesters were killed across Myanmar yesterday as demonstrators returned to the streets after the deadliest day since the military seized power from Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1.
At least 44 protesters were killed on Sunday as the military cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, taking the death toll since the coup to more than 120, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
Those killed yesterday were shot dead in two locations and witnesses said the junta was again using lethal force against protesters.
Photo: Reuters
“Two men were killed because of gunshots and six others were injured,” a witness in Aunglan said, adding that one of the dead was shot in the chest. “He was right besides me. Another one got shot in his head.”
The nation has been in uproar since the coup, with daily protests demanding a restoration of democracy, despite the junta’s increasingly forceful attempts to quell dissent.
Despite Sunday’s high death toll, protesters returned to the streets yesterday, but by the afternoon fatalities were also reported in the central city of Myingyan.
“Three people, including a woman ... with gunshots,” a Myingyan resident said, adding that the youngest death was 19 years old.
At least 16 were injured, though “five are in a critical condition,” the resident said.
News of the violence only came in the afternoon due to a block on mobile data networks across Myanmar — which also scuppered a scheduled videoconference court appearance by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The court hearing for the Nobel laureate — who spent more than 15 years under house arrest during previous military rule — had been scheduled for 10am in the capital, Naypyidaw, but it was postponed until Wednesday next week, her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said.
“There’s no court hearing because there’s no Internet and the hearing is conducted by videoconference... We cannot do video,” he said.
The authorities have throttled the Internet every night for several weeks, normally restoring services in the morning, but monitoring service Netblocks said mobile data networks were kept offline yesterday.
International alarm over the bloodshed is growing, but so far the generals have shown no signs of heeding calls for restraint.
UN special rapporteur for rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews wrote on Twitter that he was “heartbroken/outraged” at Sunday’s events.
“Junta leaders don’t belong in power, they belong behind bars,” he wrote. “Their supply of cash & weapons must be cut now.”
UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener also condemned the bloodshed, while the nation’s former colonial ruler Britain said it was “appalled” by the use of force “against innocent people.”
Andrews last week said that there was growing evidence that the junta was committing crimes against humanity — including murder, forced disappearances and torture.
Amnesty International has also accused the military of premeditated killings and using battlefield weapons on unarmed protesters.
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