Protests rock Myanmar, cops fire rubber bullets

Red Cross official says three people were shot as protesters continued to rally against the military

GENEVA/YANGON: Supporters of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi clashed with police on Friday as hundreds of thousands joined nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in defiance of the junta’s call to halt mass gatherings.

The UN human rights office said over 350 people, including officials, activists and monks, have been arrested in Myanmar since the February 1 coup. The UN rights investigator for Myanmar told a special session of the

Human Rights Council in Geneva there were “growing reports, photographic evidence” that security forces used live ammunition against protesters, in violation of international law.

UNSC urged to impose sanctions, embargoes

Special rapporteur Thomas Andrews urged the UN Security Council to consider imposing sanctions and arms embargoes.

Myint Thu, Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told the session that Myanmar would continue international cooperation.

Friday’s mostly peaceful protests were the biggest so far, and came a day after Washington imposed sanctions on generals who led the takeover.

Three people were wounded when police fired rubber bullets to break up a crowd of tens of thousands in the southeastern city of Mawlamyine, a Myanmar Red Cross official told Reuters.

Footage broadcast by Radio Free Asia showed police charging at protesters, grabbing one and hitting him in the head. Stones were then thrown at police before the shots were fired. “Three got shot,” said Myanmar Red Cross official Kyaw Myint. Several people in Mawlamyine were arrested but later released when a crowd of thousands stood outside the police station and demanded they be freed.

A broadcast by the state-run Myanmar Radio and Television said police had shot 10 rubber bullets because protesters were “continuing violent acts without dispersing from the area”. Also, doctors said they don’t think a 19-year-old woman shot during a protest in Naypyitaw on Tuesday will survive. She was hit in the head with a live round fired by police, witnesses said.

Facebook takes action

Social media giant Facebook said it was cutting the visibility of content run by Myanmar’s military, saying they had “continued to spread misinformation” after seizing power. The generals have sought to justify their takeover by saying there was fraud in an election last November won by Suu Kyi’s party, National League for Democracy (NLD), a claim rejected by election officials.