The rebels f ighting the might of Myanmar’s junta... armed only with bows and arrows
PROTESTERS used bows and arrows to defend themselves from security forces in Myanmar yesterday, as at least 114 civilians – including five children – were killed in the deadliest day since last month’s military takeover.
The brutal crackdown prompted worldwide condemnation, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab describing the killing of unarmed protesters as ‘a new low’.
‘We will work with our international partners to end this senseless violence, hold those responsible to account, and secure a path back to democracy,’ he added.
More than 400 people have been killed since the military seized control of the South-East Asian country after a landslide election victory by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.
The protesters had defied a government warning and took to the streets to mark the annual Armed Forces Day. State TV had warned in a broadcast on Friday that anyone considering taking to the streets ‘should learn from the tragedy of earlier ugly deaths that you can be in danger of getting shot’.
In the event, heavily armed security forces killed 114 people, according to the online news site Myanmar Now. The UN said it was getting reports of ‘scores killed’ and hundreds more injured across 40 locations. At least 29 people, including a 13-year-old girl, were killed in Mandalay, and at least 24 people were killed in Yangon, Myanmar Now said.
A boy as young as five was reported to be fighting for his life after being shot in the head in Mandalay. A 13-year-old was among the dead in the central Sagaing region.
Also victims were four people outside a police station in the Dala suburb of Yangon, Myanmar Now reported.
‘They are killing us like birds or chickens, even in our homes,’ resident Thu Ya Zaw told the Reuters news agency in the central town of Myingyan. ‘We will keep protesting regardless.’
Witnesses and sources told the BBC of protester deaths in the cities and townships of Magway, Mogok, Kyaukpadaung and Mayangone. Images shared on social media showed people with gunshot wounds and families mourning, while others resorted to desperate methods, including bows and arrows, to defend themselves.
The director of the Burma Human Rights Network in the UK said the military had shown it had ‘no limits, no principles’.
Britain’s ambassador Dan Chugg said the security forces had ‘disgraced themselves’, while his US counterpart Thomas Vajda said on social media: ‘This bloodshed is horrifying... Myanmar’s people have spoken clearly: they do not want to live under military rule.’
‘They are killing us like birds or chickens’