Myanmar: Five more killed in anti-junta protests

Its security forces Myanmar They opened fire on pro-democracy protesters today and killed five people, a protester and a media outlet said, adding that the military was stepping up its crackdown on arrest warrants for critics of the coup and blocking the internet.

Despite the fact that more than 550 people have been killed by security forces since the February 1 coup, protesters take to the streets daily, often in smaller groups in smaller cities, to express their opposition to the military junta.

Security forces opened fire on a crowd in central Myanmar, killing three people, the Myanmar Now news agency reported, while a man was shot and killed in another central Myanmar city, Bago, and another in Thaton, south. according to the Bago Weekly Journal.

“They opened fire with both flash grenades and live ammunition,” a protester in Monoa told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “People turned around and quickly set up roadblocks, but a bullet hit a man in the head in front of me. He died on the spot. “

Police and a junta spokesman did not respond to phone calls for comment.

The activist group Aid for Political Prisoners had earlier said today that security forces had killed 550 people, including 46 children, after the armed forces overthrew the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Authorities are also campaigning to verify the information. Yesterday, Friday, providers were ordered to block Internet access, and issued arrest warrants against 18 celebrities, including social media influencers and two journalists, under an anti-material law aimed at making a member of the armed forces rebelled or neglected his duty, state media reported late last night.

All those arrested are known to oppose the military junta. If convicted, they face up to three years in prison.

Uprooting due to army air raids

More than 12,000 people have been forced to flee their homes to escape airstrikes by the Myanmar army in recent days, an ethnic minority guerrilla group said today, saying the raids had “many casualties” and caused “the destruction of schools and villages “.

“More than 12,000 civilians have been displaced, which is causing a major humanitarian crisis,” said the Karen National Union, one of the country’s largest armed groups.

Reacting to the bloodshed of Burmese security forces with the deaths of people opposed to the February 1 military coup, the group seized a military base in the southeastern province of Karen last week.

The army retaliated by launching airstrikes between March 27 and 30, targeting strongholds of the Karen National Union. These were the first airstrikes in the area in twenty years.

“Many civilians were killed, including minors and students. “Schools, houses, villages were destroyed,” the organization said.

“We call on all national minorities in the country (…) to take strong action and punish” those responsible.

After Burma gained its independence (from the United Kingdom) in 1948, many armed groups that formed members of ethnic minorities became embroiled in conflict with central government forces to secure more autonomy, recognition, and access to exploitation revenues. many natural resources, or even part of the proceeds from drug trafficking.

The military has signed ceasefire agreements with some of these organizations in recent years.

But after the coup overthrew the political government of Aung San Suu Kyi, several of them supported the demonstrations demanding the restoration of democracy and threatened to take up arms again against the military junta that is stifling the bloodshed.

At least 500 civilians have been killed by security forces in the past two months, according to the Association for Aid to Political Prisoners.

The toll could be much heavier in reality: more than 2,700 people have been arrested, kept secret, without access to relatives or lawyers, and many are missing.

The military junta is blocking access to the Internet for the majority of the population, as it has cut off mobile and wireless connections.

Burmese generals defy international outcry.

The UN Security Council “expressed its deep concern at the rapid deterioration of the situation”, “strongly condemning” the junta’s violence in a statement adopted unanimously.

China and Russia, however, oppose imposing sanctions on the generals by the United Nations, while the United States and the United Kingdom have already imposed sanctions.

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