Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Day’s Burma protest toll put at 34
Count by analyst highest yet as crowds face tear gas, beatings
RANGOON, Burma — Burma’s security forces dramatically escalated their crackdown on protests against last month’s coup, killing at least 34 protesters Wednesday in several cities, according to accounts on social media and news reports compiled by a data analyst.
That is highest daily death toll since the Feb. 1 takeover, exceeding the 18 that the U.N. human-rights office said were killed Sunday, and could galvanize the international community, which has responded fitfully so far to the violence. Videos from Wednesday also showed security forces firing slingshots at demonstrators, chasing them down and even brutally beating an ambulance crew.
Demonstrators have regularly flooded the streets of cities across the country since the military seized power and ousted the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their numbers have remained high even as security forces have repeatedly fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds to disperse the crowds, and arrested protesters en masse.
The intensifying standoff is familiar in a country with a long history of peaceful resistance to military rule — and brutal crackdowns. The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian nation after five decades of military rule.
The Wednesday death toll was compiled by a data analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety.
The Associated Press was unable to independently confirm most of the reported deaths, but several square with online postings. The data analyst, who is in Rangoon, the country’s biggest city, said he collected the information to honor those who were killed for their heroic resistance.
According to his list, the highest number of deaths were in Rangoon, where the total was 18. In the central city of Monywa, which has turned out huge crowds, eight deaths were reported. Three deaths were reported in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, and two in Salin, a town in Magwe region. Mawlamyine, in the country’s southeast, and Myingyan and Kalay, both in central Burma, each had a single death.
As part of the crackdown, security forces have arrested hundreds of people, including journalists. On Saturday, at least eight journalists, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press, were detained. A video showed he had moved out of the way as police charged down a street at protesters, but then was seized by officers, who handcuffed him and held him briefly in a chokehold before marching him away.
He has been charged with violating a public-safety law that could have him imprisoned for up to three years.
“The Associated Press calls for the immediate release of AP journalist Thein Zaw, who has been charged with a crime in Myanmar for simply doing his job,” Ian Phillips, Associated Press vice president for international news, said Wednesday.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.
The escalation of the crackdown has led to increased diplomatic efforts to resolve Burma’s political crisis — but there appear to be few viable options. It’s not yet clear if Wednesday’s death toll could change the dynamic.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to hold a closed meeting on the situation Friday, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make the information public before the official announcement. The United Kingdom requested the meeting, they said.
Still, any kind of coordinated action at the United Nations will be difficult because two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, would almost certainly veto it. Some countries have imposed or are considering imposing their own sanctions.
On Wednesday, U.N. special envoy for Burma, Christine Schraner Burgener, said at U.N. headquarters in New York that she receives some 2,000 messages per day from people inside Burma, many “who are really desperate to see action from the international community.”