YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Central Myanmar security forces opened fire on protesters on Saturday, killing at least two people and killing at least two people, according to local media. A human rights group has said increasing violence since the military takeover on February 1 has killed at least 550 civilians.
Of those, 46 were children, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. About 2,751 people were detained or sentenced, the group said.
Threats of deadly violence and arrests of protesters did not suppress the daily protests in Myanmar and demanded that the army retire and re-establish the democratically elected government. The coup turned years of slow progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country.
The news service Myanmar Now reported that government forces shot at protesters in the city of Monywa and killed at least two people. One video posted on social media showed a group of protesters abducting a young man with a serious head wound, which sounded like gunfire. His condition is not immediately known.
At least seven people were injured in the shooting, two of whom sustained serious injuries and were arrested by soldiers, Myanmar Now said, referring to a member of a local rescue team.
Late Friday, gunmen arrested five people after talking to a CNN reporter in a market in Yangon, the country’s largest city. The arrests took place in three separate incidents.
Two women allegedly shouted for help when they were arrested, reports Myanmar Now. One police officer, who was carrying a gun, asked if ‘anyone dared to help’, a witness told the news service.
“They aimed their guns at everyone – at passers-by and people in the shop,” said a witness of two police officers who forcibly took away two other women in the market.
Meanwhile, the Karen National Union, which represents the rebel group of ethnic minorities that have been fighting the government for decades, condemns “incessant bombings and airstrikes” on villages and “unarmed civilians” in their homeland along the border with Thailand.
‘The attacks have killed many people, including children and students, and destroyed schools, homes and villages. “These acts of terrorism are clearly a flagrant violation of local and international law,” the group said in a statement.
In the Karen-controlled areas, more than a dozen civilians have been killed and more than 20,000 displaced since March 27, according to the Free Burma Rangers, an aid agency operating in the region.
About 3000 Karen fled to Thailand, but many returned under unclear circumstances. Thai authorities have said they have returned voluntarily, but aid programs say they are not safe and many hide in the jungle and in caves on the side of the border in Myanmar.
More than a dozen minority groups have for decades sought more autonomy from the central government, sometimes through armed struggle. Several of the largest groups – including the Kachin, the Karen and the Rakhine Arakan Army – denounced the coup and said they would defend protesters in their territories.
After several weeks of overnight disconnection from internet access, Myanmar’s military shut down all links on Friday, except those using fiber optic cable, which operates at drastically lower speeds. Access to mobile networks and all wireless services – the cheaper options most people in the developing country use – was blocked on Saturday.
Myanmar languished for five decades under strict military rule, leading to international isolation and sanctions. When the generals weakened their grip, leading to the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi in the 2015 election, the international community responded by lifting most of the sanctions and pouring investments into the country.