The Myanmar military killed dozens of civilians on Saturday, including three children, during a brutal crackdown on anti-junta protests in which the death toll stands at 91, according to a local media , although other sources speak of as many as 400 victims.
This is the bloodiest day since the February 1 coup led by the head of the army and the military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, who presided over a military parade on the occasion of Armed Forces Day in the capital, Naipiyido, on Saturday.
The deaths occurred during demonstrations held in some 40 cities in regions and states such as Rangoon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, Magwe, Tanintharyi and Kachin.
The total death toll, which stood at at least 328 as of Friday, now exceeds 400.
Despite the repression with tear gas, rubber and live ammunition, thousands of Burmese defied again the military and police with horrifying scenes that could be followed almost live on social networks.
Soldiers and police have carried out the warning issued the previous day on state television and radio: that they would shoot demonstrators in the back and in the head.
In fact, most of those killed in the demonstrations since early February have been shot, many of them in the head.
The authorities have been shooting demonstrators on a daily basis for almost two months, despite harsh condemnations from the UN, as well as from the European Union and countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, which have approved sanctions against the military leaders and their economic conglomerates.
The military seized power with the excuse of an alleged electoral fraud in last November’s elections, in which the party of the deposed leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi won, and which were declared legitimate by international observers.
-TN
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