A teacher who was part of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) was shot and killed as she rode her motorcycle with her child on her back in the Saging Region town of Kalay on Tuesday morning, a relative said.
The bullet hit Yi Yi Khine, a 42-year-old middle school teacher, in the stomach at around 9am as she rode through downtown Kalay, and she died shortly after arriving at the nearby hospital. The child was not injured.
It is unclear exactly who shot Yi Yi Khine, the relative said, but there was a military base near the site of the killing.
“She couldn’t get help easily because it was the day of the silent strike,” the relative said. “She could still talk a bit when she arrived at the hospital.”
Yi Yi Khine passed away at about 11am and her funeral was held the following day. She also leaves behind a second young child.
Locals in Kalay joined millions of people across the country on Tuesday who took part in a silent strike to show their opposition to military rule on the one-year anniversary of the coup.
“The roads were empty by 10am and it stayed that way until 4pm,” a Kalay resident said. “The shops had to remain open because the military threatened them. There were no buyers whatsoever.”
Soldiers spent the day patrolling the town in about 20 vehicles, he added.
Over 100 civilians have been killed and over 400 arrested by the military in the township of Kalay since the coup, according to the Kalay Township Strike Committee.
Kalay was apparently the first place where civilians took up arms to fight back against the coup regime last year, with protesters using traditional hunting rifles to defend themselves in late March when they were attacked by the junta’s forces.
