Five people were killed and at least 15 arrested after Myanmar security forces in a vehicle yesterday morning rammed into an anti-coup protest in Yangon, local news portal Myanmar Now reported.
Witnesses on the scene said that dozens of people were injured, while images and videos on social media showed a car that crashed through the protesters and bodies lying on the road.
Another protest was held in Yangon in the afternoon, despite the morning violence.
Photo: AP
Anti-military protests are continuing, despite the killing of more than 1,300 people since the Feb. 1 coup.
The scattered protests are often small groups voicing opposition to the overthrow of an elected government that was led by Burmese state councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of military rule.
Yesterday, a “flash mob” protest in Yangon — Myanmar’s largest city — was rammed minutes after it started, and witnesses said that police arrested several people.
“I got hit and fell down in front of a truck. A soldier beat me with his rifle, but I defended myself and pushed him back. Then he immediately shot at me as I ran away in a zig-zag pattern. Fortunately, I escaped,” a protester said on condition of anonymity.
A civilian vehicle occupied by soldiers hit the mob from the back, two witnesses said, and followed the scattered protesters arresting and beating them.
Some were seriously injured with head wounds and unconscious, the witnesses added.
A spokesman for the military government did not answer calls seeking comment yesterday.
The military said that protesters killed had instigated the violence.
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