More than 90 killed in Myanmar

Yangon — Security forces killed more than 90 people across Myanmar yesterday in one of the bloodiest days of protests since a military coup last month, news reports and witnesses said.

The lethal crackdown came on Armed Forces Day. Senior general Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital Naypyitaw to mark the event that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy.

State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot “in the head and back”. Despite this, demonstrators against the February 1 coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns.

The news portal said 91 people were killed across the country by security forces.

A boy reported by local media to be as young as five was among at least 29 people killed in Mandalay. At least 24 people were killed in Yangon,

said. “Today is a day of shame for the armed forces,” Dr Sasa, a spokesman for CRPH, an anti-junta group set up by deposed lawmakers, told an online forum.

The deaths yesterday would take the number of civilians reported killed since the coup to well over 400.

“This 76th Myanmar armed forces day will stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonour,” the EU delegation to Myanmar said. “The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts.”

News reports said there were deaths in the central Sagaing region, Lashio in the east, in the Bago region, near Yangon, and elsewhere.