On Sunday, the authorities in Myanmar began their most violent actions to date with protesters marching in the streets for weeks in opposition to the February 1 coup.
The violence against the unarmed and mostly peaceful protesters left 18 dead and more than 30 wounded, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office, and took place across the country, including central Mandalay, Dawei in the southeast and Yangon, Myanmar’s largest. city. The crackdown has continued in recent days, with nearly 40 killed by security forces, including 13 on Wednesday.
Unlike previous conflicts in Myanmar, the repression after the coup was “carried out in front of thousands of telephones and cameras”, which provided the real-time documentation of extreme violence by the authorities, said Richard Weir, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, formerly in Myanmar.
Much of the violence Wednesday was captured by shaky videos recorded on mobile phones, with the screams of protesters suppressed by the crack of live ammunition. Young protesters with hard hats and face masks worn to protect against the coronavirus scrambled to avoid security forces, who sometimes shoot randomly.
The New York Times has watched dozens of such videos showing soldiers and police officers using a variety of weapons, including shotguns, instant shotguns, tear gas grenades and rifles. In at least two episodes we tracked down, footage captured civilians suffering fatal gunshot wounds. Photos also show that at least one of the units involved in the genocide campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country appears to be at large.
This is what we know from the visual evidence.
A fatal shooting in Yangon
One of the most violent riots on Sunday took place in Yangon near Hledan Junction, which has become a regular gathering place for protesters.
At around 08:30, the Mizzima TV news organization filmed police officers arriving west on Hledan Road.
They are seen firing riot guns and shotguns, capable of firing both deadly and less deadly ammunition.
A video from Myanmar-based News Watch shows protesters running to a high school while fleeing the officers who are still moving towards them.
Amid the bang and the sound of gunfire, some of the protesters are carrying the limp body of someone who was apparently injured.
In a video recorded by the local news agency Myanmar Now, another protester lay motionless outside the gate of the high school and started bleeding from his middle section.
Some stop to try to save the wounded man. They carry him away.
Dr. Rohini Haar, a medical adviser at Physicians for Human Rights, reviewed other images of the man’s body for The Times. Dr. She said the man’s injury appeared to be consistent with a gunshot wound to live ammunition.
The man, who later died, was identified by family members as Nyi Nyi Aung Htet Naing. He posted “#Hoe_Baie_Dood_Bodems_UN_Need_To_Take_Action” on his Facebook page the night before.
The finishing of medical workers
Around the same time elsewhere in Yangon, in Yankin Township, a video in which doctors and medical students wear their white coats was also peacefully protested.
Police are aiming a mix of firearms at the crowd, including some that appear to be BA-63 rifles, which can be loaded with deadly ammunition or with empty rounds to deter crowds. They also shoot down a shotgun.
Just down the road, protesters are seen fleeing amid the bang.
Some seek refuge in a side street.
But officers there sent protesters into a parking lot and loaded them into police vehicles.
A notorious unit in Mandalay
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, one protester was shot in the head by his car helmet.
U Si Thu, a doctor and protester, told The Times that the man, U Maung Maung Oo, fled for the police and soldiers who were trying to gather protesters. Two other protesters were injured, the doctor said.
Graphic videos show civilians trying to rescue the man and transport him to an ambulance.
Dr. She told The Times that because he was wearing the helmet, his serious injury could not be caused by a less lethal ammunition such as a rubber bullet.
Several blocks away, security forces who confronted protesters in Theik Pan Street fired tear gas at the City Hospital site.
Soldiers decreased The firing of a tear gas grenade launcher at the hospital grounds and helping police make arrests carry insignia that, according to Weir of Human Rights Watch, apparently comes from the 33rd Light Infantry Division in Myanmar.
The 33rd Light Infantry Division was previously involved in what the United Nations described as the government’s genocide campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Fire in crowds
In the southern city of Dawei, police opened fire on a crowd of hundreds, witnesses said. At least three people were killed and more than 50 were injured, said Dr. Tun Min, who treated the injured in a hospital, said.
One video shows police officers loading a weapon that looks like a BA-63 rifle and then firing in turn.
Mizzima TV filmed several bodies being taken to a hospital in the city.
In Myaynigone, a suburb of Yangon, another video shows police officers firing firearms with firearms, which can be loaded with deadly or less deadly ammunition. The video was filmed a few hundred meters from another video showing protesters gathering in the street before being dispersed by tear gas and lightning.
One of the officers, carrying a bag, apparently retrieved the used shotgun shells, which were photographed by protesters to prove what ammunition was used.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group in Thailand and Myanmar, about 30 people have been killed since the February 1 coup and more than 1,200 have been arrested.
“The streets have become like battle zones,” the association wrote Monday. “The purpose of it all was to create fear and compliance for the military.”
The military junta now running the country has made it clear that they do not intend to hide, saying that “protesters are now inciting the people to a confrontational path where they will suffer loss of life.”
Logan Mitchell contribution made. Additional production by Arielle Ray and Drew Jordan.