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YANGON: Myanmar security forces killed an anti-coup protester and injured a small child in renewed violence overnight, media reported on Monday (March 29), as activists called on armed ethnic groups in the various nation to support their fight against the military government.
After the bloodiest day since last month’s military coup with 114 dead on Saturday, security forces opened fire at a funeral on Sunday, witnesses said.
Another 13 people were killed in other incidents over the weekend, according to the advocacy group for the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners on Sunday, bringing the total number of civilians killed since the Feb. 1 coup to 459.
READ: Myanmar’s junta warns protesters they risk being shot in the head: state television
In the town of Pathein in the Ayeyarwaddy region, security forces shot dead a man on Sunday night, DVB TV News reported Monday.
Meanwhile, in the South Dagon area of Yangon Mall, a one-and-a-half-year-old boy was injured by gunfire, the Mizzima news portal reported.
Police and a board spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking comment.
ARMED ETHNIC GROUPS ASK FOR HELP
The General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN), one of the main protest groups, in an open letter published on Facebook urged armed ethnic groups “to collectively protect people, youth, women, children and the elderly” who they oppose the military government.
Intense fighting has broken out between the army and some of the two dozen armed ethnic groups that control swaths of the country.
Some 3,000 people fled to neighboring Thailand after military planes bombed areas controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) militia near the border, an activist group and media said.
Men run during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 28, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS / Stringer)
At least three civilians were killed on Saturday in an army airstrike on a KNU-controlled village, a civil society group said. The militia previously said it had invaded an army post near the border, killing 10 people.
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Clashes also broke out on Sunday between another armed group, the Kachin Independence Army, and the army in the northern Hpakant jade mining area. Kachin forces attacked a police station and the military responded with an air assault, Kachinwaves media reported.
There were no reports of casualties.
“MASS MURDER”
At least six children between the ages of 10 and 16 were among those killed in Myanmar on Saturday, according to press reports and witnesses. Protesters call the victims “Fallen Stars.”
On Sunday, mourners fled under fire from security forces at a service for 20-year-old student Thae Maung Maung in Bago, near Yangon, and there were no immediate reports of casualties, three people in the city told Reuters.
Anti-coup protesters use a slingshot to confront police in Thaketa Township in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 28, 2021 (Photo: AP).
People in Mandalay surrounded a police station late Sunday night, accusing security forces of arson after five houses caught fire, residents said.
“While we were singing the song of the revolution to him, the security forces came and shot us,” said a woman named Aye who was in the service. “People, including us, run away when they open fire.”
READ: Myanmar’s bloodshed is ‘absolutely outrageous’, says Biden after deadliest day
UN Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Tom Andrews said the army was carrying out “mass killings” and called on the world to isolate the junta and stop its access to weapons.
Foreign criticism and sanctions imposed by some Western nations have so far failed to sway the generals, as have almost daily protests across the country since the junta seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Major General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the junta, said during a parade to mark Armed Forces Day on Saturday that the military would protect the people and fight for democracy.
Military personnel participate in a parade in Naypyidaw on Myanmar Armed Forces Day on Saturday, March 27, 2021 (Photo: AP)
Countries like the United States, Great Britain, Germany and the European Union once again condemned the violence.
“It’s terrible, it’s absolutely outrageous,” US President Joe Biden told reporters in Delaware. “I have reportedly received a large number of people who have been killed completely unnecessarily.”
The top EU diplomat, Josep Borrell, called on the generals to step away from what he called a “senseless path” of violence against his own people.
The senior US military officer and nearly a dozen of his counterparts said that a professional military must follow international standards of conduct “and is responsible for protecting, not harming, the people it serves.”
Myanmar’s military seized power saying the November elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party were fraudulent, a claim dismissed by the country’s electoral commission.
Aung San Suu Kyi is being held at an undisclosed location and many other figures from her party are also in custody.
