YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – According to reports on social media and local news reports, security forces in Myanmar shot dead at least eight people on Wednesday as authorities expanded their deadly action against the coup last month.
Videos from various places showed that security forces fired pendulum shots at protesters, chased and even brutally beat an ambulance crew.
Protesters have regularly flooded the streets of cities across the country since the army took power on February 1 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 increasing absence is unfortunately known in the 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.
According to the UN’s Human Rights Office, security forces killed at least 18 protesters on Sunday. On Wednesday, there were eight more deaths in four different cities, including a 14-year-old boy.
Security forces also arrested hundreds of people during protests, including journalists. At least eight journalists, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press, were detained on Saturday. In a video it can be seen that he was driving out of the way when the police unloaded protesters in a street but were subsequently seized by police officers.
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.
The UN Security Council is expected to hold a closed-door meeting on Friday, council diplomats said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give 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.
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.
It is difficult to independently confirm the details of the downfall and victims, especially outside the larger cities. But the reports of most assaults have been consistent in social media and in local newspapers, and usually have videos and photos supporting them. It is also likely that many attacks in remote areas are not reported.
According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, an independent television and online news service, three people have been killed in Yangon, the country’s largest city, which has already experienced the biggest protests. The deaths were also mentioned on Twitter, where some photos of corpses were posted.
In addition, a video extended by 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, the country’s second largest city, two people were reportedly shot dead. Photos posted on social media showed a university student peacefully participating in the protest, and later apparently showed her lifeless with a head wound. According to social media, a man was also killed.
Riot police in the city, backed by soldiers, broke out a protest and chased about 1,000 teachers and students of thugs out of a street because gunshots could be heard.
The video from The Associated Press shows a group of police firing slingshots in the apparent direction of protesters as they diverge.
In the central city of Monywa, which appears from large crowds, three people were shot Wednesday, including one in the head, the Democratic voice of Burma reported. According to reports on social media, two are dead.
In Myingyan, in the same central region, several social media reports reported the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy. On photos said of posters, his head and chest were soaked with blood while being carried by fellow protesters.
Live fire was also reported to have caused injuries in Magwe, also in central Myanmar; in the city of Hpakant in the northern state of Kachin; and in Pyinoolwin, a city in central Myanmar much better known by the British colonial name Maymyo.
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This story has been updated to correct that there was a report of one death in Myingyan, not two.