At least two were killed and several injured as the junta’s armed forces crushed a protest in the central town of Monywa on Saturday, according to locals and a rescue worker.
The troops attacked the demonstration from three directions: the intersection of Pyidaungsu and Arzarni roads, from Aung Thabyay road, and from Bo Tayza road, at around 9am on Saturday, locals said.
The deceased were 21 and 25 years old. Myanmar Now is withholding their names to prevent soldiers from locating and stealing their bodies before their funerals. Local media reported a third death but Myanmar Now was unable to verify it.
At least seven people were also shot and injured. Soldiers have abducted two of them who were severely wounded, a member of the rescue team in the Sagaing region town told Myanmar Now.
“We are currently attending to five injured people. Two others who were injured were taken by the troops,” said the rescue worker, who asked not to be named.
One of those who died was a frontline protester on sentry duty. He was shot in the head near a sandbag barricade built by protesters on Bo Tayza road.
“There were two tiers of sandbag barricades,” the witness said. “He was covering himself behind the second tier… Parts of his brain were blown away and spattered the people beside him.”
On Friday the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said at least 550 people have died at the hands of the junta’s killers since the military seized power on February 1. Over 40 of them were children, according to the Save the Children.
In the Mon state town of Thaton on Saturday, about 200 members of the junta’s armed forces violently dispersed a crowd of about 100 protesters, according to locals.
Some 20 protesters, including two who were severely injured, were detained by soldiers. The two who were taken include a 50-year-old man who was shot in the chest and a young woman who was shot in the abdomen.
“They came and took the young woman while people were bringing her to the hospital,” a local resident said.
“They said they would take the injured to hospital but they’re not there yet. They were still driving around the town,” he added.
