Protests grow against military coup in Myanmar
PROTESTERS gathered all over Myanmar again yesterday, a day after security forces shot dead two people at a demonstration in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city.
A funeral was also held for a young woman killed earlier by police. Mya Thwet Thwet Khine was the first confirmed death among the many thousands who have taken to the streets in protest at the February 1 coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
She was shot on February 9, two days before her 20th birthday, during a protest in the capital, Naypyitaw, and died on Friday.
About 1,000 people in cars and bikes gathered at the hospital where her body was being held amid tight security, with even the victim’s grandparents who had travelled from Yangon, five hours away, denied entry.
When her body was released, a long procession of vehicles drove to the cemetery.
In Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, about 1,000 demonstrators honoured her under a flyover.
Another large protest took place in Mandalay, where police shot dead two people on Saturday near a dockyard as security forces were trying to force workers to load a boat.
One of the victims, described as a teenage boy, was shot in the head and died immediately, while another was shot in the chest and died on the way to hospital.