[ad_1]
An exclusive Reuters report cited the testimonies of three former members, including Tha Ping, 27, who said he had asked him to shoot protesters with his machine gun to disperse them on February 27, but refused.
The next day, a superior officer called him to ask if he would follow the above orders, but he refused and resigned.
The country is witnessing massive demonstrations interspersed with acts of violence, amid calls for strikes, and during the last period, hundreds of people, including local officials, journalists and activists, have been arrested.
The local Association for the Assistance to Political Prisoners estimated that more than 60 protesters had been killed and more than 1,800 arrested since the coup began.
Faced with the deterioration of the situation, several Myanmar residents are fleeing their country and, according to AFP, some 50 people, including eight police officers who refused to participate in the killings, have arrived in neighboring India, where they have taken refuge. tens. .
A senior Indian official told Reuters that around 100 people from Myanmar, most of them police officers and their families, have crossed the border into India since the protests began.
Last Friday, the UN Security Council was unable to agree on a common response to the crackdown on protesters in Myanmar, and negotiations will continue this week.
The former police officer referred to in the report said “it was a border crossing into India, and his journey took about three days, most of them overnight, for fear that his order would be discovered.”
He said that “the rules of police work required him to arrest protesters with rubber bullets or to shoot in the area below the knees, but he received orders from his superiors to shoot them dead.”
This account was also confirmed by another former policeman, Ngun Hali, who said that he “received orders to shoot, and when he refused, he was reprimanded and transferred. With the help of Internet activists, he managed to escape to India on a trip.” that cost him about $ 143. “
As for the former police officer Dal (24 years old), although her job consisted mainly of carrying out administrative tasks, such as preparing lists of detainees, after the coup she was asked to arrest the protesters, but she refused to implement. Fearing arrest for being with the protesters and the civil disobedience movement, she fled Myanmar.
All three confirmed in their testimonies to Reuters that “there is great support for the protesters from Myanmar police, Tha Ping, who left behind his wife and two young daughters, one of whom is only six months old. He said: “Inside the police station, 90 percent support the protesters, but there is no leader. Unites “.
Reuters obtained a document indicating the case of four Mizoram policemen who fled to India due to their refusal to implement similar orders.
They issued a statement saying: “With the civil disobedience movement gaining momentum and protests organized by anti-coup protesters in various locations, we were instructed to fire on the protesters.”
“In a scenario like this, we don’t have the courage to shoot our people. They are peaceful protesters,” they added.
On Monday, three pro-democracy protesters were killed in Myanmar and dozens of security forces surrounded as night fell in a Rangoon neighborhood, raising international concern.
A large number of citizens responded to the calls to strike, including civil servants, farmers and employees of the private sector, who took to the streets in great numbers, in response to the call of the main unions to intensify the general strike to paralyze the country and pressure the military that govern the country.
