At least six civilians were killed by Myanmar’s military regime on Saturday, sending the death toll in the crackdown on anti-regime protests to at least 555 across the country.
Despite violence at the hands of the military regime, thousands of civilians in Sagaing, Mandalay regions, and Mon, Kayah and Kachin States took to the streets to take a stand against military rule.
Three civilians were shot dead when police and soldiers opened fire into crowds of protesters with live ammunition early Saturday morning in Monywa, Sagaing region.
Ko Wai Moe Naing, a leading member of the Monywa general strike committee told The Irrawaddy, “When police and soldiers sprayed bullets into the crowd, young people from the defensive team fought back. They tried to deter them from entering our neighborhoods. But we lost three people in the early morning.”
He said two were shot dead in head and another one was shot dead in neck by the security forces. Many at the protest were also wounded, he added.
Soldiers and police have been patrolling around the neighborhoods in the city where people have shown strong support for the anti-coup protesters. Since the Feb.1 coup, at least 20 people in Monywa have been killed by security forces during the crackdown on pro-democracy supporters.
Another two civilians were also killed by the military regime during an attack on an anti-coup protest in Thaton, Mon State. Residents said that at least 20 young people were also arrested by the regime at the protest event.
A local medic said that one person was shot dead in the chest while another was shot dead in the head by the security forces.
A 26-year-old Chin ethnic man, Salai Than Gang, died at this home Saturday afternoon from an abdominal wound suffered when he was shot by security forces in Kale, Sagaing, on March 1 during an assault on an anti-coup protest.
Moreover, a bystander was shot when the regimes’ forces opened fire randomly from a monastery compound where they have established a base near Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda, in Bago. An 18-year-old, Ko Aung Myat Mon, was in critical condition after he was shot in the abdomen.
“He was on the way to see his friend. It has been ten days that they have occupied the monastery. Four were already shot dead by them,” a resident in Bago told The Irrawaddy.
“We don’t dare to walk near the monastery. They shoot randomly as soon as they see people on street,” he said.
In the early morning, an unidentified woman was found dead with her hands tied behind her back in a ditch in Thamine No.1 ward, in Yangon’s Mayangone Township. Police took her body away, and the cause of death is still unknown.
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