Myanmar’s protest-related death toll since the military’s Feb. 1 coup reached 254 on Monday evening after four more people, including a 13-year-old child, were shot dead in the country’s second biggest city, Mandalay.
Beginning early Monday, the military regime’s security forces opened fire in Aung Pin Lae, Aung Tharyar and Mya Yi Nandar wards in Chanmyathazi Township in Mandalay during a series of raids.
In the gunfire Monday afternoon, three more adults and a 13-year-old boy were killed and more than 40 people were injured, according to charity groups assisting the wounded.
Security forces raided the residential quarters to remove roadblocks erected by local residents and used live rounds, rubber bullets and stun grenades in cracking down against those opposing their raids.
A resident of Mya Yi Nandar Housing told The Irrawaddy that security forces set the roadblocks on fire and destroyed several vehicles belonging to local residents during their raid on the neighborhood.
When local residents appeared in the compound of the housing quarter to oppose the raid, security forces opened fire.
“Amid no protests at our housing, security forces raided and destroyed everything they could see,” the resident of Mya Yi Nandar Housing said.
He added, “They threatened and swore at the residents during their raid. Their inhumane behavior was unacceptable.”
Security forces also raided Aung Pin Lae ward in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township and other locations in the city on Sunday night, opening fire on residents with automatic weapons. The shooting continued until midnight on Sunday.
During the Sunday night raid, eight people including a 16-year-old boy were shot dead by security forces. More than 30 were wounded.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon, police and security forces used live rounds in cracking down on anti-regime protests in Aung Pin Lae. One man was killed after being shot in the head, and six people were severely injured.
Amid the deadly crackdowns, tens of thousands of people across Myanmar continue to take to the streets day and night in defiance of military rule.
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