YANGON: At least 18 anti-coup protesters were killed on Sunday (Mar 14) in one of the deadliest days since Myanmar was thrust back under military rule.
In Yangon's massive Hlaing Tharyar township, police and soldiers faced off against protesters wielding sticks and knives as they hid behind makeshift barricades, fleeing after the security forces opened fire.
Protesters - using cut-out trash cans as shields - managed to retrieve the injured, but a doctor said not all could be reached.
Anti-coup protesters squat with shields behind black smoke from burning debris on the road in Hlaing Thar Yartownship in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, Mar 14, 2021.
"I can confirm 15 have died," the doctor told AFP, adding that she had treated about 50 people with injuries and expects the death toll to climb.
"I cannot talk much - injured people keep coming," she said before hanging up.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group - which verifies arrests and fatalities since the coup - confirmed a higher death toll.
Myanmar state television MRTV said late on Sunday that martial law has been imposed in Hlaing Tharyar district.
Throughout the day, gunshots were heard continuously by residents hiding in their homes as smoke rose above the streets, while military trucks were sighted driving through Hlaing Tharyar's streets.
State-run media on Sunday evening did not elaborate on the violence, but said five factories in the garment-producing township had been razed.
Among the burned buildings were Chinese-owned factories, said China's embassy in Myanmar, condemning the actions of the "destroyers" in a statement posted on their official Facebook.
"The Chinese embassy ... quickly urged local police to guarantee the security of Chinese businesses and personnel with effective management," it said.
"China urges Myanmar to tackle an effective plan by stopping all violence."
Anti-coup protesters surround an injured man in Hlaing Thar Yartownship in Yangon, Myanmar Sunday, March 14, 2021. A number of people were shot dead during protests in Myanmar's largest city on Sunday, as security forces continued their violent crackdown against dissent following last month's military coup. (AP Photo)
The evening news also confirmed another death in Tamwe township, saying that hundreds of protesters attempted to torch a police station, which caused authorities to open fire to disperse them.
Similar scenes of chaos unfolded throughout the day in other parts of Myanmar - with one shot dead in the northern Hpakant city and another woman killed from a headshot in Mandalay.
Despite the daily bloodshed, those in the anti-coup movement remain defiant, and have hardened in recent weeks.
"I've seen the fallen heroes give their lives," said 21-year-old Ma Khine Lay, admitting she was afraid even as she rebuilt barricades out of bricks and bamboo poles in a Yangon township.
"I will fight until the end."
Hundreds of thousands have continued to protest near-daily across Myanmar, despite crackdowns by the police AFP/STR
Mahn Win Khaing Than, the acting leader of Myanmar's parallel civilian government, 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 is on the run along with most senior officials from the ruling National League for Democracy Party. 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.
YANGON: Myanmar security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in the commercial capital Yangon on Sunday (Mar 14), leaving at least three people dead, witnesses and domestic media said.
Video taken at the site 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.
Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN said two Chinese-funded clothes factories in the district were set ablaze by people who arrived on motorcycles, armed with iron rods, axes and gasoline.
Anti-coup protesters squat with shields behind black smoke from burning debris on the road in Hlaing Thar Yartownship in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, Mar 14, 2021.
A doctor at a private hospital treating the injured confirmed the use of both live rounds and rubber bullets.
Another doctor on the ground told AFP at least three had died - corroborating local media outlet The Irrawaddy - but said the death toll is expected to climb.
"Three died in front of me while I was giving treatment. I'm sending another two to hospital. That's all I can say at this moment," she told AFP, in between giving orders to her aides to inject medicine.
"I cannot talk much - the injured people keep coming," she said before hanging up.
Throughout the day, gunshots were heard continuously by residents hiding in their homes, while military trucks were sighted driving through Hlaing Tharyar's streets.
Two more people were killed elsewhere in the country 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. "Kyaw Lin Hteik died when he arrived at the hospital ... he had a gunshot on the right side of his chest and he lost too much blood," said a local doctor who declined to be named.
He added that another three people were hit by rubber bullets and had to be transferred to state capital Myitkyina, where hospitals are better equipped.
Anti-coup protesters surround an injured man in Hlaing Thar Yartownship in Yangon, Myanmar Sunday, March 14, 2021. A number of people were shot dead during protests in Myanmar's largest city on Sunday, as security forces continued their violent crackdown against dissent following last month's military coup. (AP Photo)
Despite the growing death toll, protesters continued to take to the streets Sunday - from civil servants hoisting Aung San Suu Kyi's poster defiantly at a march through the central city of Monywa to a sit-in in commercial hub Yangon.
"May the fallen heroes who have given their lives in this spring revolution rest in peace!" chanted protesters wearing hard hats in Yangon's Thaketa township.
Hundreds of thousands have continued to protest near-daily across Myanmar, despite crackdowns by the police AFP/STR
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, the acting leader of Myanmar's parallel civilian government, 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 is on the run along with most senior officials from the ruling National League for Democracy Party. 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 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 the advance of 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.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment. Junta-run media MRTV's evening news broadcast on Saturday labelled the protesters "criminals" but did not elaborate.
SINGAPORE: Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Moe Tun has urged the international community to step up pressure on the military regime, while vowing to continue resisting the junta for as long as he can.
In an interview with CNA in New York on Friday (Mar 12), the envoy thanked the UN security council for issuing a presidential statement to condemn the violence against the protesters. The statement, which was issued on Wednesday, was unanimously approved by all 15 security council members.
“At the same time … the elements contained in the presidential statement doesn’t meet our expectations. So we (would) really like to have a stronger statement from the security council and stronger action from the security council,” he said.
“That is (what) the people of Myanmar really want … We need the protection from the international community,” he added.
The presidential statement is a step below a resolution but becomes part of the official record of the security council.
The ambassador added that the young people are the future of Myanmar and need to be protected.
“If we cannot do (it) by ourselves, we need to get the help from the international community,” he said.
Myanmar has been in crisis since the military ousted the elected government in a Feb 1 coup.
The military has justified the coup saying that a November election, won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, was marred by fraud. The electoral commission has rejected these allegations.
Protests have been held in various parts of the country and they have been met by crackdowns of increasing severity. At least 70 people have been killed so far, according to the UN.
Myanmar's ambassador to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun urged the international community to step up pressure on the country's military regime.
On Feb 26, Kyaw Moe Tun appealed to the UN to use any means necessary to end the military coup. He was dismissed the next day by the junta for “betraying the country”.
The junta named his deputy Tin Maung Naing as Myanmar’s acting UN envoy. Tin Maung Naing then tendered his resignation, leaving Kyaw Moe Tun as head of the diplomatic mission.
The UN does not officially recognise the junta as Myanmar’s new government. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: "We have not received any communication concerning changes to the representation of Myanmar at the United Nations in New York."
Other senior Myanmar diplomats, including those serving in Washington DC and London, have also spoken out against the military.
SANCTIONS SHOULD NOT HAVE SPILLOVER EFFECT ON THE PEOPLE
Kyaw Moe Tun said he respected the different positions of the UN member states and the security council members.
“They have their (own) position, they have their own stance, so we need to respect them.”
If there is no resolution from the security council, one alternative, Kyaw Moe Tun said, is to create a coalition of like-minded countries to cut the financial flows to the Myanmar military, which would help put the junta in a “difficult position”.
“There should be the other tools to put pressure on the military regime, to return the state power to the people of Myanmar,” he said.
Earlier this week, the United States imposed sanctions on two children of Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing and six companies controlled by them, the latest in a series of punitive actions. Britain, the European Union and Canada are among those who have imposed sanctions on the junta and their allies as well.
Thomas Andrews, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar has proposed that a coalition of nations could work together to stop financial flows to the junta’s coffers.
Screengrab of Myanmar's Ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Moe Tun addressing the General Assembly on Feb 26, 2021. (Video: YouTube/United Nations)
Kyaw Moe Tun said that measures to put financial pressure on the junta should be targeted.
“Please make the minimum spillover effect on the people of Myanmar. That is the point. It is very important for the country,” he said.
ASEAN WAY HAS “LIMITATIONS”
When asked if he agreed with Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s observation that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could help to facilitate a return to normalcy, the ambassador replied that there is no doubt that the member states want to help each other to resolve issues in a peaceful and amicable manner.
“At the same time, there are limitations (in) the way that ASEAN works … In ASEAN, whatever we do, we do with the consensus … Sometimes that consensus makes things slightly difficult,” he said.
“Time is really (of the) essence for Myanmar people, especially civilians, innocent civilians. So we need to protect them. We need to get the constructive action that protects the people of Myanmar. That is what we are longing for, that is what we are expecting from the international community, including our ASEAN family members."
On Mar 2, ASEAN’s foreign ministers held an informal meeting, after which they urged a halt to violence and said talks should begin on a peaceful solution in Myanmar.
In the lead up to the meeting, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi joined a tripartite meeting in Bangkok with Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai as well as their junta appointed counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin.
Commenting on whether it would be useful for ASEAN member states to engage directly with the junta and facilitate dialogue, Kyaw Moe Tun pointed out that he had urged the UN against recognising the military regime.
“We would like to have that dialogue,” he said, while asserting that what is first needed is the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, president Win Myint, other government leaders as well as unlawful detainees.
“The release of them is really important for all of us. Otherwise, we will not get meaningful dialogue. That is my personal point of view.”
Kyaw Moe Tun only took up post in New York last October.
Before his current appointment, he was Myanmar’s permanent representative to the UN office and other international organisations in Geneva, as well as the conference on disarmament.
Earlier, he served as a diplomat in Indonesia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.
“I WILL FIGHT BACK THE MILITARY REGIME AS LONG AS I CAN”
During the interview, the envoy said that he expected the military to act against him after his Feb 26 address in the UN.
“Since the beginning, I already decided (that) I will fight back the military regime as long as I can and until the end of the military coup. This is my resolution, this is my desire, for the people of Myanmar,” he said.
“So I will continue to do it as the permanent representative of Myanmar here in New York.”
When asked if there was much upheaval at the Myanmar mission to the UN after his address, Kyaw Moe Tun recounted that although his colleagues applauded him, at the same time everyone had concerns with regard to themselves and their family members back home.
“All of us people, we don’t like the military coup. We want to end the military coup as quick as possible, as soon as possible. This is the desire of the people. But the degree may differ from one to another,” he said.
The ambassador said he too was concerned that his actions would result in potential risks for his parents and family members.
“But after I delivered the statement, I got feedback from my parents; they said that they are proud of me, so I feel happy.”
