Myanmar: Five killed as troops open fire on protesters
Myanmar troops fired at anti-coup protesters on Wednesday killing at least five people and wounding several as activists defied a bloody crackdown and internet blockade by the ruling junta, media said.
More than 580 people have been killed in the turmoil in Myanmar since a Feb. 1, coup that ended a brief period of civilian-led democracy, according to an activist group, .
Nationwide protests and strikes have persisted since then in spite of the ruling military’s use of lethal force to quell the opposition.
Security forces opened fire on protesters in the northwestern town of Kale as they demanded the restoration of Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, a resident told Reuters.
News outlets cited witnesses saying there were casualties and repeated gunfire.
The Mizzima and Irrawaddy news outlets said five people were killed and several wounded.
The Kale resident said the information was provided to him by witnesses, who took pictures of five bodies.
Reuters could not independently verify the toll.
The mostly youth-led anti-coup movement’s ability to organise campaigns and share information via social media and instant messaging has been severely hamstrung by curbs on broadband wireless internet and mobile data services.
Fixed-line services, which few in Myanmar have access to, are available.
“Myanmar has been subject to a step wise collapse into the information abyss since February,” Alp Toker, founder of internet blockage observatory, NetBlocks, told Reuters.
“Communications are now severely limited and available only to the few.”
With print media also halted, protesters have sought workarounds to get their message across, producing their own A4-sized daily news pamphlets that are shared digitally and printed for distribution among the public.
On Tuesday, Dr Sasa, who leads a parallel government of the remnants of Suu Kyi’s administration, said in a statement that its legal counsel would be submitting evidence of military atrocities to different UN human rights bodies. Punch
