At least 12 killed as junta continues bid to terrorize Myanmar’s population into submission

The highest death toll was in Myaing in Magway region, where until Thursday police had refrained from shooting protesters

Soldiers from the 33rd LID are seen arresting protesters during the crackdown in Mandalay in February. (Myanmar Now)

At least 12 died across the country on Thursday as the coup regime unleashed more savage attacks on protesters, part of a campaign to terrorize the population into submission in response to a massive popular uprising that threatens to remove the military from power.

The majority of the confirmed deaths were in Myaing, Magway region, where police used guns to murder at least seven protesters and injure 10 others.

Police started by arresting three people after a crowd gathered in downtown Myaing early in the morning. When protesters began calling for their release, police fired tear gas grenades and shot three people dead.

“Then an hour later they shot again. Seven were killed in total,” a Myaing resident told Myanmar Now on Thursday afternoon.

“One of the protesters was shot near the groin. Another was shot in the head. The right side of his head was blown apart from the impact of the bullet,” said a protester who witnessed the shootings

All seven people killed were men; the oldest was 36 and there were three who were younger than 30, residents who saw the bodies at the morgue said. Three were from the town of Myaing and four were from nearby villages.

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A policeman was heard on video forcing a man to say a murdered protester died by falling and hitting his head in Mandaly on March 11. (Supplied)

Ordered to shoot

Locals said that until Thursday the police response to protests in Myaing had been relatively restrained.

“On previous days the police negotiated with the protesters, asking them to not go out and protest today,” a Myaing resident told Myanmar Now. “They warned them that they were given the order to shoot. This is the first time there has been a crackdown with shooting in Myaing. They didn’t shoot or arrest anyone in the days prior.”

Immediately after Thursday’s shootings, he added, locals were told that military trucks were arriving in Myaing from Pakokku, where Light Infantry Division 101 is based along with Light Infantry Battalions 235 and 251.

In Mandalay, police fired on a column of protesters led by Buddhist monks from the city’s Mya Taung monastery, killing one man and injuring others. Htet Tayza Aung, one of the Mya Taung marchers, was shot in the leg.

“When we reached the front of the Ko Lone Tagar pagoda on 90th street, they shot at us at least a dozen times,” he told Myanmar Now.

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The body of a protester killed in North Dago on March 11 (Supplied)

‘Not able to save him’

“They also threw tear gas grenades,” he added. “A man just fell in front of me and [police] picked him up. We were not able to save him as we were also being shot.”

A video filmed later and seen by Myanmar Now showed a soldier forcing a man to say on camera that the protester had died from falling and hitting his head.

In Myingyan, Mandalay region, a 22-year-old man died on Thursday after being shot in the eye during a crackdown the day before, BBC Burmese reported.

In Yangon, Chin Min Thu, 25, was killed when the regime’s forces attacked a protest in North Dagon township. He was shot in the head and died on the spot.

He is survived by his wife and three-year-old child, said a member of a local volunteer organisation. “He went out at 10am, he took shields and joined the protest column,” the volunteer said. “At around 10:30am, we heard that a live bullet shot by the police broke through his shield and hit his head.”

Chin Min Thu’s body was taken to his home and the hospital hasn’t issued a death certificate, the volunteer added.

In Bago, one man was shot dead and another severely injured as police shot live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at a column of “Spring Revolution” protesters, said Myo Ko, a protest leader.

“One was killed and another was injured so badly we could see the bone,” he told Myanmar Now.

“The one who died was shot in the head. We are still trying to identify who he was, but as far as we know he was deaf and mute and in middle age. His head was broken; people saw parts of his cranium left behind in his hat.”

According to Myo Ko, the crackdown began when about 20 trucks and cars arrived

“They blocked us from everywhere, and they used tear gas grenades and live bullets. Students and others who ran into nearby houses were also arrested as they checked the household registrations, and the ones who were hiding were beaten and arrested.”

There was also a confirmed report that a man in Dawei, in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region, had been shot dead by security forces.

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One person dead in crackdown to help captured informant

The fatal shooting came as locals in Sagaing region were punishing a man believed to be informing on protesters

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

Kyaw Min Tun, 41, was killed on March 16 after police opened fire on protesters in a bid to rescue a suspected informant. (Supplied)

An anti-coup protester was killed in Kawlin, Sagaing region, on Tuesday after police fired on a group of people who had detained a man suspected of acting as a regime informant.

Kyaw Min Tun, 41, was shot and killed after about 50 police arrived to rescue the suspected informant.

“The snitch was taking photos and calling the military to give them information. A woman overheard his phone call,” a Kawlin resident told Myanmar Now.

“Everyone surrounded and captured him. While they were shaving his head, the police showed up and started shooting at the crowd. A person was shot and killed,” the local added.

The person alleged to be an informant was identified as Chit Ngwe, a member of the Kawlin District Military Council. He was reportedly making a phone call at the time of his capture.

Witnesses said that police offered no warning before they started shooting.

Kyaw Min Tun was shot in the side and died immediately, witnesses said. The native of Min Ywa, a village in Kawlin township, had arrived in Kawlin in the morning to join an anti-coup march.

A young protester was also arrested during the incident, local residents said.

When local people started showing up in front of the Kawlin police station to demand the release of the arrested protester, a combined force of soldiers and police cracked down again.

Two civilians were injured in the process, residents said.

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Myanmar military, not EAOs, only terrorist organisation in Myanmar, CRPH says

The committee of elected lawmakers removes the ‘terrorist’ and ‘unlawful’ designations once used against ethnic armed organisations

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

A committee representing elected lawmakers-- who have been unable to take their seats in parliament following the February 1 coup in Myanmar-- announced the removal of all ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) from the country’s list of terrorist groups and unlawful associations on Wednesday.

The Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) issued a statement condemning all arrests and detentions under Section 17(1) of Myanmar’s Unlawful Associations Act, which prescribes up to three years in prison for affiliation with an “unlawful association.” The CRPH said that it considers the Section 17(1) arrests and charges leveraged against EAOs fighting for national equality and self-determination illegitimate.

The CRPH “expresse[d] its profound gratitude” to EAOs that have provided “care and protection” to civil servants participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to the military junta. The committee recognised and congratulated these EAOs for their “strong commitment to the building of [a] federal democratic union.”

In the wake of violent crackdowns by the junta’s armed forces on anti-coup protesters nationwide, the CRPH labelled the Myanmar army a terrorist organisation on March 1.

Of the more than 20 ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, 10, including the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the previous National League for Democracy government and the military.

Affiliation with EAOs not signatory to the NCA, such as those in the Northern Alliance, has led to charges under Section 17(1). These cases have been disproportionately brought against civilians belonging to ethnic nationalities.

The military coup council announced on March 11 that it would remove the Arakan Army, a Northern Alliance member with which it had been engaging in intensifying clashes for nearly two years in Rakhine State, from its list of terrorist groups.

No other EAOs were removed from the list.

The military continues to engage in ongoing clashes with EAOs in Kachin and northern Shan State, including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), another Northern Alliance member. In Karen State and Bago Region, the junta’s armed forces have been fighting with NCA signatory the KNU.

While the KIA has not commented directly on the coup, in a February 10 statement it said it would protect the people’s anti-military movement if the armed forces violently suppressed it.

The KNU has also said it would protect protesters, and has provided asylum for police officers who joined the CDM.

The RCSS/SSA issued a statement condemning the military coup, and has offered to protect civil servants participating in the CDM.

The 10 NCA-signatory EAOs announced on February 20 that they would suspend the peace process, and on March 11 they held an online meeting to discuss ways to stop the killing of civilians by the military council.

On March 5, the CRPH called for the military-drafted 2008 Constitution to be abolished and a federal, democratic Constitution to be established. Ten days later, the CRPH issued a law protecting the public’s right to defend themselves from the military’s violent crackdown on protesters with the aim of establishing a federal army.

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At least six killed after factory owner calls in military in Hlaing Tharyar

Police publicly executed a woman who was the leader of the workers

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

The site of a protest in Hlaing Tharyar that saw an intense face off between the protesters and the junta’s armed forces on March 14 (Supplied)

At least six people were killed on Tuesday following a wage dispute at a Chinese-owned shoe factory in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township after the owner called in the junta’s armed forces.

The workers had gone to the Xing Jia factory in Industrial Zone (1) to collect their wages, but conflict arose when they were not given the full payment they were owed, according to a Hlaing Tharyar resident from Daing Su ward who was familiar with the incident.

The owner, a Chinese national, then called the military and police, according to local sources.

“The soldiers and police came into the factory and surrounded it. The police slapped a girl who was the leader of the workers. When she hit back, they shot her,” the Hlaing Tharyar local told Myanmar Now.

The troops and police then arrested around 70 workers and loaded them onto two prisoner transport trucks. When people gathered to demand their release, the armed forces opened fire into the crowd, killing five more people, all men.

“The confrontation at the factory happened in the morning. When we gathered and went to demand the release of the arrested workers, it was about 2:30 in the afternoon,” the Hlaing Tharyar local said.

“They used live ammunition to shoot us. We all had to run, but five were killed. We couldn’t bring their bodies back, so we had to drag them away and put them in ditches.”

They were able to recover the body of one fallen worker at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, and some of the remaining bodies by 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

“We had to hide all night. There were six dead, we got four bodies back. They’re being kept at a Buddhist hall in the ward. We can’t take back two of the bodies, that of the girl shot in the factory and another man,” the local said.

At the time of reporting, he said he was on the run, along with 17 others, after being reported by another local for leading the protest. That individual is now also reportedly in hiding.

Injured protesters are being treated at Pun Hlaing hospital.

Myanmar Now is still gathering further information about the incident, and other reports of new fatal crackdowns in Hlaing Tharyar.

An official at the Hlaing Tharyar hospital said that no bodies or injured persons had been sent there on March 16 or 17.

“No one came in last night. The hospital is not far from places like Aung Zeya bridge or Mee Kwat market, so we’d know if there were something happening. The streets were relatively calm in the morning today,” another doctor from the same hospital said.

A local aid group reported that shots had been fired in Yay Oak Kan ward in Hlaing Tharyar, but further details were not known at the time of reporting.