Dressed in a white habit and a dark veil, Sister Ann Roza Nu Tawng knelt before the military forces of Myanmar and told them, “You must come through me.”
An image of her dramatic plea electrified protesters and caused uproar around the world, which saw an increasingly brutal repression of pro-democracy protesters after last month’s military coup.
The 45-year-old nun told British news broadcaster Sky News during a rally in the city of Myitkyina on Monday that she had pleaded with police “not to strike, not to arrest, not to stop the protesters. not because the protesters did nothing wrong – they just shouted slogans. ”(Sky News is owned by Comcast, the parent company of NBC News.)
When asked to leave, she refused. “The police also knelt down and they told me they had to do it because it was to stop the protest,” she said. “I replied, ‘No, if you want to do that, you have to come through me.’ ‘
Moments later, tear gas was fired and gunshots rang out.
With a weakened vision, she could not say whether the officers she spoke to fired the shots or members of the military.
But when she struggled to breathe, she saw a man who had fallen into the street. She quickly realized he had been shot.
Although he was taken to a clinic for treatment, she said he later succumbed to his injuries. Another person was killed instantly, she added.
The sister had already placed her in the city between the police and protesters on February 28.
In a separate interview with Sky News, Sister Ann Roza said that on that occasion she ‘thought today was the day I would die’ and ‘decided to die’.
“I thought it would be better if I died instead of a lot of people,” she added.
Police also opened fire at the demonstration on protesters and beat them.
While she survived both times, others were less fortunate.
Thomas Andrews, the United Nations’ human rights investigator in the country, said on Thursday that at least 70 people had been “killed” since the army took power on February 1 and the elected leader of the government, Aung San Suu Kyi, and many others of her. party leadership, and alleges fraud in an November election that wins her party in a rush.
Download the NBC News app for news and politics
Andrews accused the military junta of committing murders, torture and persecution that could constitute crimes against humanity, and told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that more than half of those killed were under the age of 25. He added that more than 2,000 people have been detained illegally.
“The country of Myanmar is controlled by a murderous, illegal regime,” he said.
The coup has halted preliminary steps towards democracy in this Southeast Asian country of 54 million after nearly 50 years of military rule, and has dragged hundreds of thousands into the streets.
While Western countries have condemned the military’s actions and imposed some limited sanctions, the generals have traditionally shaken off such diplomatic pressure. They promised to hold a new election but did not set a date.
But Sister Ann Roza said the generals do not protect the people who ‘have to defend themselves’.
While promising to pray for the army and the protesters, she warned that ‘people are no longer safe in Myanmar, which used to be a place of happiness’.
She added that she would ‘ask people abroad to pray for us’.
“May God bless you,” she said. “I salute the fallen souls.”