Myanmar protests see deadliest day with 38 dead, UN envoy says

“Today was the bloodiest day since the coup,” said Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener, adding that the total death toll since February 1 was now 50.

About 1,200 people have been detained, while many family members are not sure where they are being held, Burgener said.

“Every available tool is now needed to stop this situation,” she said. “We need a unity of the international community, and it is therefore up to the member states to take the right measures.”

Protesters run Wednesday of police tear gas shooting during a pro-democracy demonstration in Mandalay, Myanmar.

CNN has reached out to the ruling military regime by email, but has yet to receive a response.

Protesters have been demanding for weeks that democratically elected officials be released, including the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently in custody. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD) won a landslide victory in the November election; military leaders allege voter fraud but have provided no evidence for their claim.

World leaders have demanded that the elected leaders of Myanmar be restored.

‘The use of lethal force against peaceful protesters and arbitrary arrests is unacceptable,’ said a statement issued on February 28 by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who also called on the international community to send a clear signal to to send the army that he must respect. the will of the people of Myanmar as expressed through the election. ‘

A speech by Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun caused a rare round of applause last week, after he said he represented the country’s civilian government and called on the international community to ‘take all necessary means’. to use to end the coup.

On Wednesday, Myanmar’s deputy ambassador, U Tin Maung Naing, resigned after military rulers nominated him to replace the outspoken Kyaw Moe Tun.

A protester used a fire extinguisher while others holding homemade shields on Wednesday during a demonstration in Yangon.

Pope Francis also on Wednesday took into account the deteriorating situation in Myanmar and called for the release of political prisoners in the country and for an end to the violence.

“I also call on the international community to act so that the aspirations of the people of Myanmar are not suppressed by violence. That the young people of that beloved country have the opportunity to give hope in a future where hatred and injustice is replaced by encounter and reconciliation, ”he said during his weekly hearing.

CNN’s Pauline Lockwood, Akanksha Sharma, Mitchell McCluskey and Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.

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