Two people in critical condition after police shoot peaceful protesters with live bullets in Naypyitaw - doctor

Attack comes amid increasingly brutal crackdown after the regime banned gatherings of more than four people

Published on Feb 9, 2021

Crowds in Naypyitaw were pummeled with water cannons amid an increasingly brutal crackdown (Myanmar Now)

Two people were fighting for their lives on Tuesday after police fired live bullets into a crowd of peaceful protesters in Naypyitaw, a doctor at a hospital in the capital told Myanmar Now.

A 30-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman were in critical condition after being shot, the doctor said, requesting anonymity.

The attack came as demonstrators calling for the fall of the new dictatorship braved water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas during a fourth day of mass nationwide demonstrations against last week’s coup.

Tuesday’s protests went ahead in defiance of a ban on gatherings of more than four people imposed by the new regime on Monday.

The two injured protesters were among a crowd that gathered at the Thabyay Gone Centre in Naypyitaw that was also pummeled with jets of water and about 50 rounds of rubber bullets.

Than Htike Aung, a reporter with the Mizzima news website, was injured by a rubber bullet during the attacks. Two others were also injured.

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A protester was injured after police use water cannon on crowd demonstrating against the coup in Naypyidaw. (Nyan Hlaing Lin/Myanmar Now)

In Mandalay, where dozens have been violently snatched off the streets and arrested, police fired tear gas at a crowd of protesters.

About a dozen police and military trucks blocked the entrance to University Avenue at Hledan junction In Yangon as a large crowd gathered there.

On Monday, a week after staging a coup against a newly elected government, the military released a statement warning that action would be taken against “wrongdoers” if the protests continued.

Later that evening, the General Administration Department announced the ban on gatherings and an indefinite 8pm to 4am curfew.

The department said groups of people had been trying to disrupt public stability, safety and law enforcement, which can cause riots, and that gatherings, giving speeches, and protesting were therefore banned.

Aung Myo, a 50-year-old protester who helped lead hundreds rallying in Yangon’s Thaketa township on Tuesday, said people did not need to follow the orders imposed by the military.

“It was not imposed by our elected government but by the military dictator. We are totally against it and condemn it,” he said, as protesters demanded the release of those detained last week and chanted “Down with the military dictatorship!”

Thousands of civil servants from the ministries of foreign affairs, education, agriculture and health, as well as staff from the Anti-Corruption Commission and the railways department have joined walkouts throughout the country aimed at crippling the regime.

we_need_democracy.jpg

Yan Moe Naing/Myanmar Now

People from many other walks of life, from lawyers, engineers and construction workers to nurses and medical students, have also joined a general strike called on Monday.

At least one police officer in Naypyitaw and four police officers in the central town of Magwe have also joined the protests, with some wearing red ribbons, the symbol of the civil disobedience movement.

Khun Aung Ko Ko, the police lieutenant who joined demonstrators in Naypyitaw, called for the “fall of dictator Min Aung Hlaing” in a printed statement handed out to protesters.

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The police officer who switched to the protesters' side gave a speech to the crowd, calling for the “fall of dictator Min Aung Hlaing", the country's army chief and coup leader.

“I am aware I will be put in jail with a long prison sentence if our fight for democracy does not succeed,” he wrote. “But it’s worth fighting for over 50 million people in this country by doing what I believe in.”

“Even if I lose my dearest daughter in this fight for our next generation, it’s worth it. I will be happy to die together with my daughter. I do not want my daughter to live under the rule of dictator Min Aung Hlaing and witness his wickedness and selfishness,” he added. “My sacrifice for the people and members of the police force, to fight for democracy and the fall of dictator Min Aung Hlaing, will be worth it.”

Nationwide protests against the military coup continue all over Myanmar.

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Mandalay PDF refutes junta’s claim that it seized cache of weapons

The armed group also said the junta falsely claimed a woman it arrested was a resistance fighter

Esther J

Published on Dec 3, 2021

Soldiers and police during a crackdown on anti-coup protesters in Mandalay on February 15 (Myanmar Now)

The junta has falsely claimed that its forces seized a cache of weapons in Mandalay after detaining dozens of people it accuses of being resistance fighters over the past month, the leader of the People’s Defence Force (PDF) for the city has said.

Bo Nat Khat told Myanmar Now that a December 1 statement from the military council that it had arrested 33 resistance fighters and found guns, bombs and grenades was a “lie”.

The statement said that 28 men and five women were detained between November 3 and December 1, including 15 members of the Mandalay PDF. It named Khin Aye Maw, 50, as one of the fighters.

But Khin Aye Maw, a resident of Chanmyathazi Township, had no involvement with the PDF and was taken as a hostage on November 25 when her son evaded arrest, said Bo Nat Khat.

“She’s the mother of an engineering student the military was looking for. She has absolutely no ties with the PDF or any revolutionary forces. She was taken in the place of her son,” he added.

Khin Aye Maw’s 12-year-old daughter was detained with her mother, then later released and placed under house arrest, he said.

The statement added that the captives included four members of the Yaw Defence Force (YDF), which is based in neighbouring Magway Region, but the YDF told Myanmar Now that none of its members were captured.

The junta’s statement also said that one of the captives, Ko Htwe, gave information to interrogators that led to the discovery of 20 guns, an M79 grenade launcher, bombs, grenades and bullets near the Leikkya waterfall in Taunggaung village, Madaya Township on November 30.

“It’s not true that they seized weapons from the Mandalay PDF. None of that really happened,” Bo Nat Khat said.

Bo Nat Khat suggested many of the captives were arrested not because of any proven involvement in attacks against junta targets, but because their names were given up by others who were tortured during interrogation.

The military uses CCTV to track culprits in the wake of attacks and then tortures captives to extract information from them about their connections, he added.

“The revolution is everybody’s business,” he said. “We are not doing this for individual profit. We are not doing this for the development of our own lives. We are doing this to overthrow the dictatorship and we need the strength of the entire country to be able to do so.”

Esther J

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KIA clashes with junta soldiers in Hpakant and Mohnyin

The fighting comes a week after the junta launched airstrikes in KIA territory

Nyein Swe

Published on Dec 3, 2021

An archive photo of a KIA soldier aiming his gun (EPA)

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) clashed with the Myanmar military in Hpakant and Mohnyin townships on Wednesday, a little under a week after the junta launched airstrikes against the rebel group in Mohnyin.

About 50 soldiers from the junta’s Infantry Battalion 42 attacked KIA territory near Nyaung Htauk village in Mohnyin at around 8am, said Colonel Naw Bu, the KIA’s information officer.

“We were only defending against them; they were heading towards our base on the ground,” he told Myanmar Now. The territory is under the control of the KIA’s Brigade 9.

The clash ended at about 6pm. Naw Bu did not disclose details of casualties.

There was another clash the same day near Wailon village, which sits along the road linking Hpakant with Mohnyin, about 17 miles from Hpakant’s urban center.

A junta artillery unit from Hpakant fired around 30 shells at the site of the clash between 3pm and 8pm, a local said. “The shelling from Hpakant was so loud that my house was shaken,” he said.

The same artillery unit fired five more shells on Thursday morning, he said.

Soldiers stationed near Hway Long have been demanding bribes from people passing along the road there, charging 5,000 kyat per vehicle and up to 3,000 kyat per person, he added.

Vehicles travelling from Hpakant to Mohnyin had to turn back on Wednesday because of the clashes, he said.

There was a third clash on Wednesday near Kwingyi village between Mohnyin and Nanmar townships, but Myanmar Now was unable to gather further details.

Locals have estimated that some 30 soldiers died in two of Wednesday’s clashes but Myanmar Now was unable to verify this. The junta rarely comments publicly on clashes in Kachin State.

The KIA has teamed up with newly formed resistance groups of the People’s Defence Force to attack junta targets in the townships of Shweku, Katha, Htigyaing, Kawlin and Wuntho in recent months.

Last week’s airstrikes targeted the KIA’s Battalion 26. There were no injuries from the strikes, the KIA said.

There have been hundreds of clashes between the KIA and the junta’s forces in Kachin since the February 1 coup. In May the KIA shot down a military helicopter in Momauk Township.

Nyein Swe

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Two Mandalay Region men killed in junta custody in separate incidents

In one case, soldiers repeatedly beat a farmer in front of villagers and splashed water on his face to wake him when he passed out

Wathone Nyein Aye

Published on Dec 3, 2021

Mary Hnin

Published on Dec 3, 2021

Phyo Maung Ye (left) was shot while he was being detained and died in junta custody hours later. Than Tun Aung, 25, was beaten to death by soldiers in his village (Supplied)

Two men were murdered by soldiers after being detained in Mandalay Region this week in seperate incidents, locals have told Myanmar Now.

Than Tun Aung, a 25-year-old farmer, was detained and severely beaten on Monday after soldiers stationed in his village of Khine, Myingyan Township, started firing their guns at random, several locals there said.

He was among 11 men at the village bar at the time who were accused of an “unauthorised gathering” and taken to the local school.

Than Tun Aung fainted from the beatings on his way to the school, but the soldiers splashed him with water to wake him up and kept beating him as they continued on their way, said a local who spoke to eyewitnesses.

“The kid died while they splashed water on him and kicked him repeatedly,” the local said. “They were beating him for ‘not answering’ their questions but the truth is he just couldn’t speak anymore because of his injuries.”

Five hours after his arrest, villagers found his body between the market and the local clinic covered with a blanket. Soldiers told villagers he died of a cold, said another local, who has now fled Khine.

Than Tun Aung’s funeral was held at the village cemetery on Tuesday, but soldiers disrupted the ceremony by blocking the way for people who were carrying his body to be cremated, said the second local.

“The main road to the cemetery is the road near the school where the soldiers are stationed,” he said. “The soldiers came out of the school and told us that they couldn’t let us pass, so we had to go through the woods to get to the cemetery.”

Than Tun Aung leaves behind a 22-year-old wife and a one-year-old son.

Around 30 soldiers have been stationed at the school for about a month and more than 1,500 residents have fled to nearby villages.

The 10 other people detained with Than Tun Aung have been released but are not allowed to leave the village, locals said. “Those who were arrested didn’t dare to flee because the military threatened to harm their families if they did,” said one resident.

Than Tun Aung’s family did not want to speak with the media because soldiers were still in the village, the locals added.

Soldiers have been checking villagers’ mobile phones and social media pages, they said.

There have also been incidents of soldiers detaining villagers and forcing them to sing the Myanmar national anthem while they beat them, the locals said, adding that in other cases soldiers have forced villagers to fight each other.

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun could not be reached for comment.

In a similar case on Wednesday, Phyo Maung Ye, the 30-year-old owner of the Today teashop in Sintgaing Township’s Kathe village, was shot in the leg three times as he was detained by junta forces and died in custody at the Hpalanbo police station the same day.

Twelve police and soldiers detained Phyo Maung Ye along with his wife and two-year-old son, who were also taken to the police station but released hours later, according to locals.

Phyo Maung Ye was arrested on suspicion of helping to fund the People’s Defence Force (PDF), said one local.

“A Facebook account wrote that Phyo Maung Ye was financially supporting the PDF and he posted a status to refute that claim, but he was arrested at his shop the next day,” said the local. “He was shot three times in his leg during his arrest. We heard he had his arm broken during interrogation as well.”

The police station claimed that Phyo Maung Ye died when he tripped and fell during an escape attempt. They did not allow his family to take his body and said they had cremated it themselves.

“It’s impossible that he tripped and fell and died. He died because they tortured him. He had already been shot when he was arrested,” said another local.

“He was a good person doing honest work. He was not affiliated with the PDF either,” he added. “He did not give them any financial support. It saddens me a lot that our own villager had to experience this.”

The Sintgaing chapter of the PDF said Phyo Maung Ye’s killing was an act of terrorism by the military. “He was not a member and he was not a supporter. They took out their anger on an innocent civilian,” said a member of the group.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the military council and the Hpalanbo police station about Phyo Ye Maung’s death but all calls went unanswered.

In July junta forces arrested and tortured another teashop owner in Sintgaing. Min Thu Tun was detained along with his wife and child in Ohn Pin Chan and reportedly lost his hearing and some of his eyesight while being interrogated.

At least 1,302 civilians have been killed by the junta since it seized power in February and 7,687 remain in junta custody, according to recent figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.