Troops ‘hiding the dead’
Bodies of protesters ‘piled up’ as junta tries to prevent casualty count
YANGON: Reports have emerged of more than 80 killed in the latest bloodletting by Myanmar’s military, as the country’s own ambassador to the United Nations called for “strong action” against the junta.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February, with protesters refusing to submit to the junta and demanding a return to democracy.
After more than two months of military rule, efforts to verify deaths and confirm news of crackdowns have been curtailed by the junta’s throttling of mobile data within the country – shunting most of the population into an information blackout.
Details of a brutal crackdown in the city of Bago, 65km northeast of Yangon, took a full day to emerge, as residents told of continued violence by the army which forced them to flee to nearby villages.
By Saturday evening, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners – a local monitoring group tracking deaths – confirmed “over 80 anti-coup protesters were killed by security forces in Bago on Friday”.
Footage shot early Friday showed protesters hiding behind sandbag barricades wielding homemade rifles, as explosions could be heard in the background.
Authorities had refused to let rescue workers near the bodies, said a resident. “They piled up all the dead bodies, loaded them into their army truck and drove it away,” he said.
State-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper blamed the crackdown on “rioters”, and reported only one dead. The United Nations office in Myanmar tweeted late Saturday night that it was following the bloodshed in Bago, where medical treatment had been “denied” to the injured.
“We call on the security forces to allow medical teams to treat the wounded,” it said.
Bago’s violence will add to AAPP’s death toll of 618 civilians killed since the coup. The junta has a far lower number: 248, a spokesman said.
“Your collective, strong action is needed immediately,” Myanmar’s Ambassador to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun told a Security Council meeting on Friday, proposing a no-fly zone, an arms embargo and more targeted sanctions against members of the military.
Despite the daily bloodshed, protesters have continued to take to the streets. In commercial hub Yangon, crimson paint – representing the blood spilt – was splashed across the streets in view of the historic Shwedagon Pagoda.