YANGON—At least nine protesters were killed and several wounded in three cities in Myanmar as police fired live rounds and rubber bullets at anti-coup protesters on Wednesday morning.
In Mandalay, a 19-year-old female protester was shot in the neck and another man was shot in the chest. Both died on the spot. Another man also died from a gunshot.
In Myingyan, Mandalay Region, a 14-year-old protester also reportedly died after being shot in the head and at least a dozen protesters were wounded by gunshots.
At least five were shot dead in a violent crackdown by riot police and soldiers on an anti-coup protest in the morning in Monywa city in Sagaing Region, locals told The Irrawaddy. Of them, 25-year-old Ma Kyawt Nandar Aung was shot in the head and died on the spot.
Her sister told The Irrawaddy that Ma Kyawt Nandar Aung together with her siblings had participated in protests against the military regime for several days on the frontline. When the incident happened, her younger sister was also at the frontline of the protest.
“She is still too young to leave,” her sister, who was crying over the phone, told The Irrawaddy. “She was so brave. I take her death as something to be proud of.”
She added that she and her remaining siblings will continue to take to the streets to fight for democracy until victory is achieved, to compensate for their sister’s death.
The military regime has ramped up the crackdown on mass protests nationwide. At least 21 protesters were reported killed in shootings by police and soldiers from Feb. 1 to March 2.
Besides the three cities, protests in Yangon, Magwe and Mandalay regions and Kachin state were also cracked down upon on Wednesday. Several people were shot and wounded, and a number detained during the crackdowns.
In Yangon’s Tamwe Township, at least 200 protesters, mostly young people, were detained on Wednesday at noon. Soldiers forced them to stand in the midday sun near the township’s police station before pushing them into army trucks.
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