Myanmar military shoots protesters
18 killed as soldiers open fire randomly at unarmed demonstrators in the streets
Military forces in Myanmar opened fire on crowds of peaceful demonstrators in several cities yesterday, killing at least 18 people, the United Nations said, in a violent escalation of the junta’s efforts to suppress weeks of mass protests against its month-old coup.
The sheer ferocity of yesterday’s crackdown — soldiers appeared to shoot at unarmed people in the streets at random and rounded up groups of demonstrators before marches could begin — drew sharp rebukes internationally.
The forceful response of the military signalled a new ruthless resolve to quash unrest after a month in which thousands have turned out regularly to protest a February 1 coup. The demonstrations and civil disobedience movement have challenged the primacy of a military notorious for its brutality after having crushed democracy movements in 1988 and 2007 by shooting peaceful protesters.
“We strongly condemn the escalating violence against protests in Myanmar and call on the military to immediately halt the use of force against peaceful protesters,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson with the UN human rights office.
In the southern city of Dawei, police opened fire on a crowd of hundreds, witnesses told The New York Times. At least three people were killed and more than 50 wounded, said Dr Tun Min, who was treating the injured at a hospital.
Doctors in Mandalay confirmed three fatal shootings there, and killings also took place in Yangon and the city of Mawlamyine, The New York Times was able to confirm. The United Nations statement said it had reports of deaths “as a result of live ammunition fired into crowds” in Yangon, Mandalay and Dawei as well as in the cities of Myeik, Bago and Pokokku.
It was the largest single-day toll since the protests began after the February 1 coup, which ousted the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most popular politician. Before yesterday, three deaths at the hands of the security forces had been widely reported, though two other deaths recently came to light in interviews with bereaved family members.
The Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known, has led the country for most of the past 60 years. But over the past decade it yielded some power to civilian leaders, before seizing control again in the coup.
Until yesterday, the junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing had been comparatively restrained in its response to the protests and organised civil disobedience that have swept the nation. But as the demonstrations, marches and work stoppages have continued, fear of another bloody, full-scale crackdown has been ever-present.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s secondlargest city, one protester, Maung Maung Oo, died after being shot in the head through his motorcycle helmet as he was fleeing police officers and soldiers. Two others were shot and wounded.
Si Thu, a doctor and a protester, said he and the three victims were among a group of about 50 who were trying to escape police officers and soldiers, who broke up their planned protest before it could start.
“I don’t know where the bullet came from, but the man was shot in the forehead and went down,” Si Thu said in an interview. A video of the scene posted on Twitter showed several men carrying the victim to an ambulance as blood from his wound dripped onto the ground.
Minutes after the ambulance left, an Army truck stopped at the end of the street, and soldiers opened fire on the group, Si Thu said. That was when the other two men were wounded, one in the chest and one in the arm.
Maung Maung Oo was taken to the Byamaso Social Association Hospital, where he died, said Zar Ni, a doctor there. Lei Lei, another doctor at the hospital, said a second protester also died there from a gunshot wound.
Later, after protesters in Mandalay had largely dispersed, a woman was shot in the head and killed as police and soldiers cleared barricades and fired at people in the streets, apparently at random, a witness said. Zar Ni said the woman, whose name was not released, was dead on arrival at the Byamaso hospital.
In Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, a protester named Hein Htut Aung, 23, was shot and killed at a demonstration in Thingangyun township. His death was confirmed by Nadi Ayar Hospital, where he was taken. Another demonstrator in Yangon, Nyi Nyi Aung Htet Naing, was also shot dead, according to family members. The last post on his Facebook page read, “#How_Many_Dead_Bodies_UN_ Need_To_Take_Action?”
As teachers gathered to demonstrate at another protest site in Yangon, police began firing tear gas and rubber bullets near them, and a primary schoolteacher identified as Daw Tin Nwet Yi died of a heart attack, a witness said.
The first person known to have been killed this month in the protests was Ma Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing, 20, who was shot in the head by police at a demonstration in the capi