Shooting Death, Raid of Protester’s Grave Spark Anger in Myanmar’s Mandalay
Myanmar soldiers near a temple. Photo: pxhere. CC0 Public Domain.
Myanmar security forces shot dead an anti-junta demonstrator in Mandalay on Friday, driving the death toll from violent crackdowns in Myanmar’s second-largest city up to 11, while the hasty exhumation of the body of protester killed earlier in the week added to anger at military authorities.
The death came as more police quit their jobs to join the protest movement and the U.S. ambassador in Yangon had his first meeting with the junta in the nearly five weeks since the army deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government, sparking daily protests across the country.
In Mandalay, Zaw Myo was shot in the neck as he marched with fellow engineers in a morning protest. Though he received emergency treatment at a private clinic, he died of his wound a few hours later, leaving behind a pregnant wife and a young son, they said.
“What happened this morning in Mandalay was a shooting without any provocation,” said a city resident who declined to give his name for fear of his safety.
“This is beyond lawlessness,” he said. “People not only are losing their right to express themselves, but also have to watch out for themselves not to get killed. Society cannot condone the current violence committed by the police and those soldiers in police uniforms.”
The military on Friday dug up the grave of Kyal Sin, a 19-year-old ethnic Chinese woman who was shot in the head when Myanmar forces opened fire to disperse an anti-coup demonstration Wednesday in Mandalay, residents and witnesses said.
A day after tens of thousands of people attended a memorial service for Kyal Sin, also known as Angel, a military vehicle and six police trucks arrived at the Yunnan Chinese section of the Aye Yeik Nyein Cemetery on Thursday evening and exhumed the young woman’s body, witnesses said. Security forces cordoned off the area so no one could enter.
Full story: rfa.org
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
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