It would be fair to say that committing crimes against humanity against its own people is the only thing that the Myanmar army excels at. They vividly showed their brutality during decades of war in the country’s ethnic regions by killing and torturing people there. Whenever they faced unarmed protesters on the cities’ streets, they had no problem opening fire on them in cold blood. Take the pro-democracy movement in August 1988 known as the ’88 Popular Uprising, whose 36th anniversary is marked on Thursday. During the nationwide protest against the Ne Win Socialist regime, soldiers killed 3,000 people countrywide in August and September.
Thirty-three years later, in February 2021, when they faced a new generation of pro-democracy supporters against the country’s latest military coup, the willingness of the army and police force—under the military’s control—to use violence against their own people had not waned. Instead, their crackdowns were more brutal. They not only hit protesters with military precision, aiming for their heads, but the men in uniform terrorized anyone who supported the protesters. As the 2021 coup protests evolved into a full-blown nationwide armed resistance in the following years, the army grew more inhumane. In response to the resistance, to the world’s horror, they have dropped bombs on schools and hospitals, killing hundreds of civilians including children, for more than three years, not to mention committing a series of massacres. They have arrested, tortured and killed anyone who supported the resistance materially or morally.
Such atrocities against the wider Myanmar population are shocking and unprecedented, and the world has condemned the junta for crimes against humanity. By all accounts, from UN agencies to local human right watchdogs, all will tell you the military regime’s atrocities against the Myanmar people this time are far more brutal than in 1988 because the regime has so far killed at least 5,481 people and detained more than 20,000 for anti-regime activism.
In light of this and, as Myanmar on Thursday marks the 36th anniversary of the ’88 Popular Uprising, we revisit some visual evidence not only of the Myanmar army’s brutality during the uprising, but also during the Spring Revolution, the ongoing fight against the regime launched in February 2021. Our aim is to put “on the record” the Myanmar army’s brutality and inhumanity to its own people, and how it has only become more evil in the years since 1988, so that justice will be done for the victims in the future.
Pro-democracy popular uprising in 1988
People join the ’88 Popular Uprising in Yangon on August 8, 1988.Heavily armed soldiers from the Myanmar army are deployed on the streets of Yangon as protests against the Ne Win Socialist regime gain momentum in August 1988. / Alain EvrardProtesters confront armed soldiers in Yangon in August 1988. / Alain EvrardArmed soldiers from Myanmar army charge at protesters in Yangon during an anti-Ne Win regime protest in August 1988. / Alain EvrardA protester wounded in the army’s crackdown is taken for treatment in Yangon in August 1988.Heavily wounded Ma Win Maw Oo, 16, is carried by two medics in downtown Yangon where the army opened fire on protesters who opposed the military coup on September 19, 1988. / Steve LehmanThe body of an unidentified victim hit in the head durng the military’s crackdown on protesters in Yangon on September 19, 1988. / Steve Lehman
The Spring Revolution (2021- )
Tens of thousands of protesters gather in downtown Yangon on February 17, 2021 to protest against the Myanmar military regime. Following the military coup on February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s biggest city huge crowds of people pour onto the streets for the first time since 1988. / The IrrawaddyPolice fire on unarmed anti-coup protesters in Naypyitaw on February 9, 2021. Despite being the capital and the nerve center of the regime, it attracted thousands of anti-regime protesters daily from the first week of the month.Mya Thwet Thwet Khaing, 20, collapsed abruptly after being shot in the head during an anti-coup protest in Naypyitaw on February 9, 2021. She succumbed to the injury 10 days later and become the first victim killed by security forces in the Spring Revolution, the Myanmar people’s ongoing fight against the military regime since February 2021.Riot police fire tear gas to disperse anti-regime protesters in Yangon on Feb. 27, 2021. / The IrrawaddyA civilian wounded amid security forces’ crackdown receives treatment at a hospital in Mandalay on Feb. 28, 2021. / The IrrawaddyAmid an escalating crackdown on anti-regime protesters, fully equipped soldiers are deployed in Yangon on March 2, 2021. / The Irrawaddy(Left) Kyal Sin, 19, during the security forces’ crackdown on an anti-regime protest in Mandalay on March 3, 2021. (Right) Kyal Sin after being shot in the head during the crackdown. She died on the same day.The sister of Saw Pyae Naing, who was shot dead with live rounds during a demonstration by protesters against the military coup, grieves over his body at a makeshift medical center in Mandalay on March 13, 2021. / AFPProtesters take cover behind homemade shields as they confront police during a crackdown on demonstrations against the military coup in Hlaing Tharyar Township in Yangon on March 14, 2021. / AFPA protester holds onto the shirt of a fallen comrade during a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations against the military coup, in Hlaing Tharyar Township in Yangon on March 14, 2021. / AFPThe mother of Khant Nyar Hein reacts next to his body at his funeral in Yangon on March 16, 2021, after the first-year medical student was shot dead during a crackdown by security forces on protesters taking part in a demonstration against the military coup. / AFPMedical students hold up the three-finger salute at the funeral of Khant Nyar Hein at his funeral in Yangon on March 16, 2021, after the first-year medical student was shot dead during a crackdown by security forces on protesters taking part in a demonstration against the military coup. / AFPA demonstrator reaches out to a fellow protester who was shot by security forces in Yangon on March 17, 2021. / The IrrawaddyRiot police challenge protesters in Yangon on March 17, 2021. / The IrrawaddyProtesters carry a resident who was injured during a crackdown by security forces on a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon’s Thaketa Township on March 19, 2021. / AFPThe funeral of a young protester who was shot dead by security forces on March 20, 2021. / The IrrawaddyThis photo taken by and received from an anonymous source via Facebook on March 27, 2021 shows relatives crying over the body of policeman Chit Lin Thu, who had joined the protests against the military coup, after he was shot dead by security forces during a demonstration in Yangon’s Insein Township. / AFPThis photo taken by and received from an anonymous source via Facebook on March 27, 2021 shows people laying flowers at the site where policeman Chit Lin Thu, who had joined the protests against the military coup, was shot dead by security forces during a demonstration in Yangon’s Insein Township. / AFPRelatives show the three finger salute as they mourn over the body of Saw Lwin Moe, who was killed on March 29 during a protest amid a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations against the military coup, during his funeral in Yangon on March 30, 2021. / AFPThis aerial photo taken on October 29, 2021 show smoke and fires from Thantlang, in Chin State, where more than 160 buildings have been destroyed in shelling by junta military troops, according to local media. / AFPThis handout image from the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) taken and released on December 25, 2021 shows burnt vehicles in Hpruso Township in Karenni State. / AFPThe corpses of civilians killed when a junta fighter jet bombed Pazi Gyi Village in Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region on April 11, 2023.A man stands amongst debris in the aftermath of a military strike on a camp for displaced people near the northern Myanmar town of Laiza on October 11, 2023, two days after the assault that killed 29 people and wounded dozens. / AFP
