2 People Died & 30 People Injured After Police Opened Fire at Protesters in Myanmar

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Myanmar is a hotbed of anger and revolt at the moment.

Residents have been up in arms over the military’s forceful removal of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from office and their takeover of the country.

Hordes of irate demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the takeover, demanding the military release their leader and cede power.

Instead of hearing these protestors out, the authorities have responded with violence.

2 People Died & 30 People Injured After Police Opened Fire at Protesters in Myanmar

Two protestors were killed and 30 others were left injured after Myanmar’s security forces fired live rounds and rubber bullets at protesters in the city of Mandalay.

On Saturday (20 Feb), hundreds of police and soldiers turned up at the Yadanarbon shipyard in the city, according to Reuters. 

Fearful that they would be arrested for their demonstrations, protestors started banging pots and pans in an act of defiance, and even threw rocks at officers, yelling at them to leave.

Officers retaliated by shooting at demonstrators with live rounds, rubber bullets, and slingshot balls.

This managed to drive the protestors away, but not without a cost.

Two people were killed, one of whom was a teenager who was shot in the head and died on the spot. Another died later with a bullet wound to the chest.

30 others were also injured; half of them were shot with live rounds, and the others were wounded from rubber bullets and slingshots.

One of the protestors who died, Thet Naing Win, 36, leaves behind his wife and son.

“They took away the body to the morgue. I cannot bring him back home. Although my husband died, I still have my son,” his wife, Thidar Hnin, told Reuters.

“I haven’t been involved in this movement yet but now I am going to … I am not scared now.”

The authorities have reportedly arrested hundreds of people since the military’s coup, many of whom were civil servants who had been boycotting work as part of a civil disobedience campaign.

Before this violent incident, a protestor who was shot in the head last week had died on Friday (19 Feb).

Started With The Elections

The military took over the country on 1 Feb, but trouble was brewing long before that.

In Nov 2020, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, NLD, won a landslide victory in the elections, obtaining a whopping 83% of the seats in parliament.

The Myanmar military, however, alleged election fraud, saying there were duplicated names on voting lists in scores of districts.

The allegations were later dismissed after the election commission determined there were no errors big enough to affect the outcome.

Yet the military held firm in their belief that there was election fraud and threatened to go to the supreme court.

However, instead of doing so, the military seized power of the country and detained several officials.

1990 Elections 

Believe it or not, this is the third time the military in Myanmar seized power, with the first coup in 1962 and the second in 1988.

In 1990, two years after taking over, the Myanmar military held elections as promised.

Unsurprisingly, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won 80% of the parliamentary seats, but the government ignored the results and rounded up a few opposition politicians, including Suu Kyi.

Sound familiar?

Aung San Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest after her detention, and was released in 2010.

In 2011, she was elected to parliament along with other members of her party.

Even though the people eventually snatched back power, the military held authority over the country for a long, long time.

This authoritarian military dictatorship is what protestors are desperately trying to avoid now.

Featured Image: Chaiwat Subprasom / Shutterstock.com

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]