Medics defy use of lethal force in day of coup protests

A PEACEFUL march at dawn yesterday by medical professionals in Myanmar’s second biggest city kicked off another day of protests around the country against last month’s coup.

With public protests getting ever more dangerous, anti-coup demonstrators in Mandalay acted early to minimise the risk of confrontation with security forces, who shot dead at least one person at a rally elsewhere.

The independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners had verified 247 deaths nationwide linked to the post-coup crackdown. The actual total, including cases where verification has been difficult, is probably much higher, it said.

It has also confirmed that 2,345 people have been arrested or charged, with 1,994 still detained or sought for arrest.

About 100 doctors, nurses, medical students and pharmacists, wearing the long white coats, lined up on a main road in Mandalay to chant slogans and proclaim their opposition to the February 1 coup that toppled the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, inset.

The army takeover reversed the slow progress towards democracy that began when Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won a 2015 election after five decades of military rule.

Mandalay has been a major centre of opposition to the takeover. But in recent weeks, the number of protesters has fallen off in the face of lethal use of force by police and soldiers firing live ammunition into crowds.

Engineers in Mandalay yesterday held what has been dubbed a “no-human strike”, an increasingly popular tactic that involves lining up signboards in streets or other public areas as proxies for human protesters.

While Mandalay’s early morning march was not disrupted by security forces, at least one protester was shot dead in Monywa, according to the online news site Myanmar Now and numerous social media posts.

Myanmar Now, citing a doctor in Monywa, identified the victim as Min Min Zaw, who was shot in the head as he was helping assemble barricades for yesterday’s protest. Virtually all the dead since the coup have been shooting victims, and in many cases, have been shot in the head.

The resistance cause over the weekend received support from demonstrators in several places abroad, including Tokyo, Taipei in Taiwan and in Times Square in New York City.