At least 12 killed in protests in Myanmar; Civil vice president swears resistance to the meeting

People participate in a candlelight gathering in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 12, 2021, in this still image taken from video obtained by Reuters. Video taken on March 12, 2021. VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS / via REUTERS

Myanmar security forces killed at least 12 people, witnesses and media reported, as the interim leader of a parallel civilian government vowed in a first public speech on Saturday to pursue a “revolution” to reverse the military coup on 1 February.

Five people were shot dead and several injured when police opened fire on a sit-in in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, witnesses told Reuters.

Another person was killed in the central city of Pyay and two were shot dead by police in the commercial capital of Yangon, where three also died overnight, national media reported.

“They are acting like they are in a war zone, with unarmed people,” said Mandalay activist Myat Thu. He said that among the dead was a 13-year-old boy.

Si Thu Tun, another protester, said he saw two people shot, including a Buddhist monk. “One of them was shot in the pubic bone, another was horribly shot to death,” he said.

In Pyay, a witness said security forces initially prevented an ambulance from reaching the injured, leading to one death.

A truck driver in Chauk, a town in the central Magwe region, also died after police shot him in the chest, a family friend said.

A spokesman for the board did not respond to Reuters phone calls seeking comment. The board-run MRTV evening newscast labeled the protesters “criminals,” but did not elaborate.

More than 70 people have been killed in Myanmar in widespread protests against the military’s takeover of power, said the advocacy group of the Political Prisoner Assistance Association.

The deaths came as the leaders of the United States, India, Australia and Japan vowed to work together to restore democracy to the Southeast Asian nation and the interim leader of the country’s ousted civilian government addressed the public for the first time.

Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is in hiding along with most of the top officials of the ruling National League for Democracy Party, addressed the public via Facebook and said: “This is the darkest moment in the nation and the time when that the dawn is near “.

He was appointed interim vice president by representatives of Myanmar’s ousted legislators, the Committee to Represent Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which is pushing for recognition as the legitimate government.

The group has announced its intention to create a federal democracy and the leaders have been meeting with representatives of Myanmar’s largest ethnic armed organizations, which already control vast swaths of territory across the country.

“To form a federal democracy, which all the ethnic brothers, who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades, really wanted, this revolution is the opportunity for us to unite our efforts,” said Mahn Win Khaing Than. .

He said that the CRPH “would try to legislate the laws required for people to have the right to defend themselves” and that the public administration would be in charge of an “interim team of popular administration.”

A civil disobedience movement that began with government employees, such as doctors and teachers, has expanded into a general strike that has paralyzed many sectors of the economy and has taken much of the government’s operation from the hands of the public. military.

PROTESTS

Saturday’s protests erupted after posters were posted on social media urging people to mark the anniversary of the death of Phone Maw, who was shot and killed by security forces in 1988 within what was then known as the campus of the Rangoon Institute of Technology.

His shooting and that of another student who died a few weeks later sparked widespread protests against the military government known as the 8-8-88 campaign, because they peaked in August of that year. An estimated 3,000 people were killed when the army crushed the uprising.

Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as an icon of democracy during the movement and was under house arrest for nearly two decades.

She was released in 2010 when the military began democratic reforms. His National League for Democracy won the elections in 2015 and again in November of last year.

On February 1 of this year, the generals overthrew their government and detained Suu Kyi and many of her cabinet colleagues, citing fraud in the November elections.

The coup in Myanmar, where the military has close ties to China, is an important opening test for US President Joe Biden.

The US president held a virtual meeting with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia on Friday, the first official summit of the group known as Quad, as part of a push to demonstrate a renewed US commitment to regional security.

“As longtime supporters of Myanmar and its people, we emphasize the urgent need to restore democracy and the priority of strengthening democratic resilience,” the four leaders said in a statement issued by the White House.

SOUTH KOREA CUTS DEFENSE TIES

United Nations human rights investigator Thomas Andrews on Friday dismissed as “absurd” comments by a senior Myanmar official that the authorities were exercising “the utmost restraint”.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, he called for a united approach to “remove the sense of impunity from the junta.”

Former colonial power Britain on Friday warned its citizens in Myanmar to leave and South Korea said it would suspend defense exchanges and reconsider development aid to Myanmar.

The Kremlin said that Russia, which has close ties to the Myanmar military, was concerned about the escalating violence and was “analyzing” the possibility of suspending military-technical cooperation.

The UN Security Council this week withdrew the language of a statement condemning the army’s takeover as a coup, due to opposition from China, Russia, India and Vietnam.

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