YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar security forces have dramatically increased their protest against last month’s coup, killing at least 34 protesters in several cities on Wednesday, according to social media reports and local news reports compiled by a data analyst is.
This is the highest daily death toll since the February 1 takeover, more than the 18 who were killed on Sunday, according to the UN Human Rights Office, and which could have killed the international community, which has so far responded to the violence. Videos from Wednesday also showed that security forces fired pendulum shots at protesters, chased them and even brutally beat an ambulance crew.
The toll can be even higher; the Democratic voice of Burma, an independent television and online news service, counted 38 deaths.
Protesters have regularly flooded the streets of cities across the country since the military seized power and ousted the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their numbers remained high, even as security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds to disperse the crowd and arrest protesters en masse.
The growing absenteeism is unfortunate in a country with a long history of peaceful resistance to military rule – and cruel oppression. The coup turned years of slow progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country into five decades of military rule.
The death toll on Wednesday was compiled by a data analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety. He also gathered information about the victims’ names, ages, hometowns, where and how they were killed.
The Associated Press was unable to independently confirm most of the deaths reported, but a number of online postings. The data analyst, who is in Yangon, the country’s largest city, said he gathered the information to honor those killed for their heroic resistance.
According to his list, most deaths were in Yangon, where the total was 18. In the central city of Monywa, which appears from large crowds, eight deaths have been reported. Three deaths were reported in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, and two in Salin, a city in Magwe region. Mawlamyine, in the southeast of the country, and Myingyan and Kalay, both in Central Myanmar, each had a single death.
As part of the crackdown, security forces also arrested hundreds of people, including journalists. At least eight journalists, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press, were detained on Saturday. A video showed him moving off the road when police unloaded protesters in a street, but police officers handcuffed him and briefly held him in a stranglehold before marching away.
He is charged with violating a public safety law it could result in him being jailed for up to three years.
The increase in repression has led to increasing diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis – but there appear to be few viable options. It is not yet clear whether the rising death toll on Wednesday could change the dynamics.
The UN Security Council is expected to hold a closed-door meeting on the situation on Friday, Council diplomats said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information before the official announcement. According to them, the United Kingdom requested the meeting.
Nevertheless, any kind of coordinated action at the United Nations will be difficult, as two permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, will almost certainly veto it. Some countries have imposed or are considering their own sanctions.
Christine Schraner Burgener, UN special envoy for Myanmar, told reporters at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday that she receives about 2,000 messages a day from people in Myanmar, many “who are really desperate for action from the international community” to see.”
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, held a teleconference meeting of foreign ministers on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.
But even there, action is unlikely. The regional group of ten countries has a tradition of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. A statement from the chairman after the meeting simply called for an end to the violence and to talk about achieving a peaceful settlement.
Myanmar’s security forces on Wednesday continued to attack peaceful protesters because they did not ignore the call.
In addition to the deaths, there have been reports of other violence. In Yangon, a widely circulated video from a security camera showed police brutally beating members of an ambulance crew in the city – apparently after they were arrested. Police can be seen kicking the three crew members and pounding them with rifle butts.
Security forces are believed to single out medical workers for arrest and ill-treatment because members of the medical profession launched the country’s civil disobedience movement to resist the junta.
In Mandalay, riot police, backed by soldiers, broke out a rally and chased about 1,000 teachers and students of thugs out of a street because gunshots could be heard.
The AP’s video showed a group of police firing slingshots in the apparent direction of protesters as they diverged.
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Associated Press author Edith M. Lederer at UN headquarters in New York contributed to this report.
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This story has been updated to correct that there was a report of one death in Myingyan, not two.