Burma, almost 50 dead: still a woman symbol of the protest

The Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners in Burma counts at least 459 deaths after the start of the protests following the February 1 military coup. The dead on Sunday are 13, but during the day another 23 of the past days were counted, as many as 114 those of Saturday, the bloodiest day in two months now.

The victims they are all civilians, hit during the repression of demonstrations. There are women and children among the dead and injured in protests in 44 cities across the country.

Twenty-year-old nurse Thinzar Hein was killed, along with an as of yet unidentified man, on Sunday in Monywa by the regime’s armed forces. Thinzar Hein was working with a rescue team & was shot in the head while attending to other people who had been shot by the junta’s troops. pic.twitter.com/NjHwI9dVpM

— Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) March 28, 2021

According to the site Myanmar Now there is also a 13-year-old girl killed at home by a gunshot fired in a residential area in Meikhtila, in the Mandalay region. A 5-year-old child would have died and a one-year-old would have been hit in the eye by a rubber bullet.

After the nun who knelt in front of the police and the young Angel there is another woman who is a symbol of the protest. She is a 20-year-old nurse, Thinzar Hein, who was shot and killed in the head while rescuing injured demonstrators. It is also Myanmar Now, a newspaper of the Reuters Foundation, to tell the episode that took place in Monywa, a city in the Sagaing region.

A silent strike today (Mar 29) in Kyaukme, northern Shan State, to mourn and protest the shooting death of innocent children by the coup regime. #WhatHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/0N4f8ixKSJ

— Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) March 29, 2021

Dozens of international protests. “The security forces are killing unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they swore to protect,” the US embassy in Burma wrote in a statement, de facto condemning the repression of demonstrations that coincided with a military parade. The representation of the European Union in Myanmar spoke of “A day of terror and shame” referring to Saturday and the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, spoke of a “profound shock”. No condemnation came from the representatives of China and Russia whose delegations along with those of 6 other countries participated in the parade.

The leaders of the armed forces of 12 nations, including Italy, have condemned the repression against the demonstrators by the military junta which has taken the place of the civilian government and had the leader arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and dozens of politicians. “A professional army follows the rules of international conduct and its responsibility is to protect – not strike – the people it serves.”