Myanmar Army Kills Over 100 Protestors
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – Myanmar’s military rulers declared martial law in a large area of the country’s largest city Yangon after security forces killed more than 100 pro-democracy protesters since Saturday.
Activists said Myanmar security forces shot dead at least 20 demonstrators on Monday in an increasingly lethal crackdown on resistance to last month’s military coup.
Earlier on Sunday, 74 people died in a factory area of Yangon, the bloodiest single day so far, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
Separately some 18 people were reportedly killed in shootings on Saturday, according to several sources.
Monday’s shootings took place as marches were underway in the Asian nation’s second city Mandalay and in the central towns of Myingyan and Aunglan, where police opened fire, witnesses and media reported.
“One girl got shot in the head, and a boy got shot in the face,” an 18-year-old protester in Myingyan told Reuters news agency by telephone. “I’m now hiding.”
DAILY PROTESTS
Protests have been taking place daily since the military overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 and installed a ruling junta. The United Nations said at least 138 peaceful protesters were killed in Myanmar, also known as Burma, since the military coup, including women and children.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns this ongoing violence against peaceful protesters.” Guterres also lashed out at “the continuing violation of the fundamental human rights of the people of Myanmar,” Dujarric said.
The U.N. chief urged the international community, including regional countries, “to come together in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations,” the spokesman added.
The military has also targeted predominantly Christian minorities in this mainly Buddhist nation, Worthy News reported earlier. Thousands of Christian villagers fled bombardments in Myanmar since the coup began, Christians said.
Christian aid workers told Worthy News that the Myanmar Army shelled the Papun and Nyaunglebin districts in the volatile Karen State in recent weeks.
The bombings forced the mainly- Christian ethnic Karen villagers “to escape into the inhospitable mountainous jungle with what little they could carry,” added Barnabas Fund, a Christian aid, and advocacy group.
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