Myanmar junta opens fire on anti-coup protesters amid international condemnation

Myanmar security forces have opened fire on protesters in the main city of Yangon, leaving a man dead, as thousands swarmed the streets across the country after the bloodiest day since the military coup two months ago.  

Several people were also injured when the security forces opened fire at protesters in a Yangon neighborhood on Monday, according to the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Similar protests also took place in numerous other towns, including the central towns of Bago, Minhla and Khin-U, the southern town of Mawlamyine, and Demoso in the east.

The demonstrations come after security forces on Sunday fired live rounds at mourners at a service held in the town of Bago near Yangon for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old student who was shot dead during Saturday’s protests.

Over 100 people, including children, were killed on Saturday, the bloodiest day of protests since the military seized power on February 1, drawing international outrage.

“While we are singing the revolution song for him, security forces just arrived and shot at us,” a woman identifying herself as Aye told Reuters on Sunday, adding, “People, including us, run away as they opened fire.”

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group reported that the crackdown has left 460 civilians dead since the coup.

The military said on February 1 that it had arrested Myanmar’s ousted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her associates over accusations of voter fraud in favor of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the November 2020 elections. 

The military placed commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing in power and pledged to hold fresh elections in a year and hand over power to the winner, but has not set a date.

The latest bouts of crackdown come as the General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN), a main protest group, urged ethnic minority forces to help those standing up to the “unfair oppression” of the military.

“It is necessary for the ethnic armed organizations to collectively protect the people,” the protest group said in an open letter posted on Facebook on Monday.

More than 20 ethnic groups have been fighting the military for decades over greater autonomy. Though many organizations have agreed to ceasefires, fighting has flared in recent days between the army and insurgents in both the east and north.

Over the weekend, fighters from Myanmar’s oldest ethnic minority force, the Karen National Union (KNU), clashed with the army troops, forcing about 3,000 villagers to flee to neighboring Thailand, which has been home to tens of thousands of Karen refugees for decades.

Military fighter jets on Saturday pounded a KNU area, leaving three civilians dead, after a KNU force took control of an army outpost and killed 10 soldiers.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday said his government was preparing for a possible influx of refugees from Myanmar.

“We don’t want to have an exodus into our territory, but we will observe human rights, too,” Prayuth told reporters. “How many refugees are expected? We have prepared an area, but how many - we are not talking about that.”

In northern Myanmar, fighting erupted between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an armed ethnic group, and the military in the area of Hpakant on Sunday.

The military jets targeted the rebel group after the insurgents attacked a police station in the area.

Both the KNU and KIA have expressed support for the anti-coup movement and called on the junta to stop the violence against civilian demonstrators.

Myanmar was ruled by the military from 1962 until 2011, when Suu Kyi ended the junta rule.

Her international reputation has been tarnished because she defended a military campaign of genocide against the minority Rohingya Muslim community in 2017.

'Unacceptable violence'

Saturday's killings have drawn renewed international condemnation.

“It's terrible,” US President Joe Biden told reporters in brief remarks he gave in his home state of Delaware on Sunday. “It's absolutely outrageous and based on the reporting I've gotten, an awful lot of people have been killed totally unnecessarily.”

The European Union also condemned as “unacceptable” the violence which came after the junta staged a major show of might for its annual Armed Forces Day.

“The escalation of violence with more than 100 civilian killings perpetrated by the military against its own people on its ‘Armed Forces Day’ is unacceptable,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on Sunday.

“Far from celebrating, the Myanmar military has made yesterday a day of horror and of shame,” he added.

The defense ministers of 12 countries, including the US, Britain, Japan and Australia had also earlier decried the Myanmar military for its bloody crackdown on the protests.

“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting -- not harming -- the people it serves,” they said in a rare joint statement on Sunday.

“We urge the Myanmar Armed Forces to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions.”

'Catastrophic consequences'

Meanwhile, the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, warned on Sunday that the military’s violent acts could inflict “catastrophic” consequences on Myanmar’s younger generation.

“I am appalled by the indiscriminate killing, including of children, taking place in Myanmar and by the failure of security forces to exercise restraint and ensure children's safety,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.

“In addition to the immediate impacts of the violence, the longer-term consequences of the crisis for the country's children could be catastrophic,” she added.

According to her statement, the delivery of critical services for children has already ground to a halt, with about one million children being without access to key vaccines. Almost five million children are missing out on vitamin A supplementation; around 12 million risk losing another year of learning, and over 40,000 kids are without treatment for severe acute malnutrition, she warned.

“This loss of access to key services, combined with economic contraction which will push many more into poverty, puts an entire generation of children and young people in peril,” Fore said.

Noting that 35 children have “allegedly” been killed since the coup, Fore urged the security forces to “immediately refrain from perpetrating abuses of child rights and ensure the security and safety of children at all times.”

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