Woman shot at during crackdown on protests

Police launched their most sweeping crackdown in three weeks of protests against military rule on Saturday in towns and cities across Myanmar, and one woman was shot and wounded and dozens of people were detained.

Three domestic media outlets said earlier that the woman shot in the central town of Monwya had died but an ambulance service official said she was in hospital. Police were not available for comment.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.

The coup, which stalled Myanmar’s progress towards democracy, has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets and drawn condemnation from Western countries, with some imposing limited sanctions.

Police were out in force in cities and towns from early on Saturday in their most determined effort yet to stamp out the protests.

Myanmar’s UN ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has been fired, state television said on Saturday, a day after he urged the United Nations to use “any means necessary” to reverse the February 1 military coup.

Kyaw Moe Tun had told the UN General Assembly he was speaking on behalf of the civilian government of Suu Kyi. State television said he had “betrayed the country and spoken for an unofficial organisation which doesn’t represent the country and had abused the power and responsibilities of an ambassador”.