Myanmar security forces opened fire on pro-democracy
protests on Saturday killing five people, a protester and media said, as the
military reinforced its bid to end dissent with arrest warrants for online
critics and internet blocks.
اضافة اعلان
Despite the killing of more than 550 people by the security
forces since the February 1 coup, protesters are coming out every day, often in
smaller groups in smaller towns, to voice opposition to the reimposition of
military rule.
Security forces in the central town of Monywa fired on a
crowd killing three people, the Myanmar Now news service said, while one man
was shot and killed in another central town, Bago, and one in Thaton to the
south, the Bago Weekly Journal online news portal reported.
"They started firing non-stop with both stun grenade
and live rounds," the protester in Monywa, who asked not to be named, told
Reuters via a messaging app. "People backed off and quickly put up ...
barriers, but a bullet hit a person in front of me in the head. He died on the
spot."
Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer
telephone calls seeking comment.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist
group said earlier on Saturday the security forces had killed 550 people, 46 of
them children, since the military overthrew an elected government led by Aung
San Suu Kyi.
The demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people in
the early days of defiance in big cities have largely stopped with opponents of
the coup adopting "guerrilla rallies" - small, quick shows of
defiance before security forces can respond.
People also gather at night for candle-lit vigils.
The authorities are waging a campaign to control
information. They had shut down mobile data and on Friday ordered internet providers
to cut wireless broadband, depriving most customers of access, though some
messages and pictures were still being posted and shared on social media.
Authorities issued warrants for 18 celebrities, including
social media influencers and two journalists, under a law against material
intended to cause a member of the armed forces to mutiny or disregard their
duty, state media reported late on Friday.
All of them are known to oppose military rule. The charge
can carry a prison term of three years.
Actress Paing Phyoe Thu said she would not be cowed.
"Whether a warrant has been issued or not, as long as
I'm alive I'll oppose the military dictatorship who are bullying and killing
people. The revolution must prevail," she said on Facebook.
Paing Phyoe Thu regularly attended rallies in the main city
of Yangon in the weeks after the coup. Her whereabouts were not immediately
known.
Silencing the voices?
State broadcaster MRTV announced the warrants for the 18
with screenshots and links to their Facebook profiles.
While the military has banned platforms like Facebook, it
has continued to use social media to track critics and promote its message.
MRTV maintains a YouTube channel and shares links to its
broadcasts on Twitter, both of which are officially banned.
The United States condemned the internet shutdown.
"We hope this won’t silence the voices of the
people," State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told a briefing.
The coup has rekindled old wars with autonomy-seeking ethnic
minority forces in the north and the east.
Myanmar's oldest insurgent group, the Karen National Union
(KNU), has seen the first military air strikes on its forces in more than 20
years, after it announced its support for the pro-democracy movement.
The KNU said more than 12,000 villagers had fled their homes
because of the air strikes. It called for an international embargo on arms
sales to the military.
"Their inhuman actions against unarmed civilians have
caused the death of many people including children and students," the
group said in a statement.
Media has reported that about 20 people were killed in air
strikes in KNU territory in recent days, including nearly a dozen at a gold
mine run by the group.
The KNU signed a ceasefire with the government in 2012 to
end their 60-year insurgency.
Fighting has also flared in the north between the army and
ethnic Kachin insurgents. The turmoil has sent several thousand refugees
fleeing into Thailand and India.
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