Myanmar crackdown intensifies: Multiple fatalities in latest protests

Police have killed several people and wounded many more in a single day as demonstrations against an early February coup by military junta enters the fourth week in Myanmar.

Three people lost their lives and some 20 others sustained injuries when security forces opened fire on a rally in the southern coastal town of Dawei in northern Myanmar on Sunday, according to a volunteer medic and local media reports.

Pyae Zaw Hein, a rescue worker, said the trio had been "shot dead with live rounds," while those injured had been targeted with rubber bullets.

"There could be many more casualties as well because more wounded people keep coming in," he added.

Local media outlet Dawei Watch confirmed the report and said three anti-coup demonstrators had been killed in the violence.

Two teenagers were also shot dead in Bago, a two-hour drive north of commercial capital Yangon, AFP reported.

In Yangon, witnesses said police and security forces, clad in protective gear, threw stun grenades and used tear gas without warning, also firing into the air to disperse the crowd.

Officers in Yangon began dispersing small crowds before the beginning of the day's protest, with one 23-year-old shot dead in the city's east.

Images posted by media showed several people — some bleeding heavily — being helped away from protests, with the Myanmar Now media group saying people had been “gunned down,” without further elaboration.

Police in the second city of Mandalay were reported to have fired guns into the air, trapping protesting medical staff in a city hospital. 

Reuters quoted a report by the Myanmar Now media outlet as saying that two people had been killed in Mandalay.

For about the past four weeks, the Southeast Asian country has been the scene of daily protests against the military, which grabbed power in a coup on February 1. The army ousted the government of de facto leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi and arrested her and several political leaders, claiming fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.

Suu Kyi, who is being held under house arrest, is due to attend a court hearing on Monday. Her lawyer said on Friday that he had not been granted access to his client ahead of the hearing.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi set to appear in court

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is set to appear before the court on Monday (March 1) to face charges after she was detained by the police in a military coup last month.

Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing claims that authorities have been using minimal force to contain the protests. Nevertheless, at least six protesters have died over the days of turmoil. The army says a policeman was killed in earlier violence.

More than 850 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

The junta has come under pressure by the international community to hand over power to civilians and release the officials.

The United States, Britain, and others have called for Suu Kyi’s release and the restoration of her government. They have imposed limited sanctions aimed at members of the military and its business links.

Police, mob of junta supporters attack anti-coup protesters in Myanmar

Police in Myanmar attack anti-coup protesters in the country’s two biggest cities, and a mob of junta supporters attack demonstrators with knives and clubs.

Myanmar's UN ambassador vows to fight after junta fired him

The Sunday violence comes hot on the heels of Myanmar’s state-run media reports that authorities had terminated the posting of the country's UN envoy, who urged the international body to use “any means necessary” to reverse the coup.

"We need... the strongest possible action from the international community to immediately end the military," Kyaw Moe Tun had told the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Myanmarese ambassador struck a defiant tone and defended his stance after the dismissal, saying, “I've decided to fight back as long as I can.”

UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said on Twitter that he was overwhelmed by the ambassador’s “act of courage,” adding, “It’s time for the world to answer that courageous call with action.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a UN official said the United Nations does not officially recognize the junta as Myanmar’s new government, and so Kyaw Moe Tun remains Myanmar’s UN ambassador.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, warned the 193-member UN General Assembly on Friday that no country should recognize or legitimize the Myanmar junta.

Guterres has pledged to mobilize international pressure “to make sure that this coup fails.”

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