More deaths and violence against protesters were reported from several cities in Myanmar on Wednesday, a month after a military coup toppled the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to reports from the biggest city, Yangon, the central city of Mandalay, as well as the nearby townships of Myingyan and Monywa, at least 10 protesters had died in the latest clashes, as the anti-coup protests showed no sign of abating.
Six of the deaths – four men and two women – were reported in Myingyan, where one local journalist who talked to dpa said there were some 20,000 people on the streets.
Police broke up protests in several places in Yangon using rubber bullets and tear gas.
Protester Naing Naing Htet, 29, told dpa that 200 people had been arrested in Yangon.
Some 5,000 people in total had been demonstrating, he said.
“I am still studying at the university and we protest every day for justice. I was shot by two rubber bullets on [my] shoulder and on my back today and the neighbouring people helped me,” he said.
Two demonstrators, a 37-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, died in the city of Mandalay, the newspaper Myanmar Now reported.
On Sunday, at least 18 people were killed and more than 30 wounded as the military crackdown on the protests continued, the UN Human Rights Office said. Graphic images of the wounded have flooded social media.
As of March 2, nearly 1,300 people had been arrested in relation to the coup, according to the human rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The UN Security Council has decided to discuss the crisis in Myanmar, most likely in the form of a closed session on Friday. The decision comes amid appeals from inside Myanmar for the UN to send aid. Sources on the ground are referring to it as a “war zone.”
Citing election tampering without providing any evidence, the military ousted the democratically elected government at the start of February.
The toppled government’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been in house arrest since then and is facing charges ranging from sowing disorder to illegally importing walkie talkies.
Although the military is guaranteed a veto-proof minority in the legislature, it seems to have been surprised by the size of the win of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in November elections.
GNA
