Myanmar Security Forces Open Fire On Anti-Coup Protesters Leaving At Least Three Dead

Myanmar Security Forces Open Fire On Anti-Coup Protesters Leaving At Least Three Dead.

Myanmar security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in the commercial capital Yangon today, Sunday, March 14, killing at least three people, witnesses and domestic media said.

Pictures taken at the scene showed protesters holding handmade shields and wearing helmets as they confronted security forces in the Hlaing Tharyar district of the city. Plumes of black smoke rose over the area- one report said two factories in the district had been set on fire by protesters.

At least two people were killed elsewhere in the Southeast Asian nation, according to media reports, a day after the acting leader of the parallel civilian government said it will seek to give people the legal right to defend themselves.

A young man was shot and killed in the town of Bago, near Yangon, witnesses and domestic media said. The Kachin Wave media outlet said another protester was killed in the town of Hpakant, in the jade mining area in the northeast.

More than 80 people had been killed as of Saturday in widespread protests against the military’s seizure of power last month, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group said. Over 2,100 people have been arrested, it said.

Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is on the run along with most senior officials from the ruling National League for Democracy Party, addressed the public via Facebook on Saturday, saying, “This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close.”

He said the civilian government would “attempt to legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves” against the military crackdown.

The Monywa township in central Myanmar declared it had formed its own local government and police force. In Yangon, hundreds of people demonstrated in different parts of the city after putting up barricades of barbed wire and sandbags to block security forces.

In one area, people staged a sit-in protest under sheets of tarpaulin rigged up to protect them from the harsh midday sun. “We need justice,” they chanted.

More than 1,200 people have been arrested, charged and sentenced since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group, of which about 900 are still behind bars. However,  the number is likely far higher as state-run media reported today, Sunday, March 14, that more than 1,300 people have been arrested.

State-broadcaster MRTV said late Tuesday that 511 people in detention had been released in Yangon. Reporters Without Borders says at least 10 journalists are in jail and 26 have been arrested since the coup started.

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