2 more people killed in Myanmar anti-coup protests

One of the victims was shot in the head and the other was shot in the abdomen, according to local media in Hlaing Thar Yar Township in Yangon.

There were also reports of injuries from live rounds and rubber bullets.

The use of fire extinguishers common now in protests across Myanmar is intended to smother tear gas and also create a vapour screen that makes it harder for police to pursue or shoot demonstrators.

On Saturday, the civilian leader of Myanmar’s government in hiding vowed to continue supporting a “revolution” to oust the military that seized power in the February 1 coup.

Mahn Win Khaing Than, who was named the acting vice-president by Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers and is a member of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, addressed the public on Saturday for the first time since the coup.

“This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close,” he said in a video.

“In order to form a federal democracy, which all ethnic brothers who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades really desired, this revolution is the chance for us to put our efforts together,” he said.

He added: “We will never give up to an unjust military, but we will carve our future together with our united power. Our mission must be accomplished.”

At the end of the message, he flashed the three-finger salute that has become a symbol of resistance to the military rulers.

The actual death toll is likely to be higher, as police apparently seized some bodies, and some of the victims suffered serious gunshot wounds that doctors and nurses working at makeshift clinics would be hard-pressed to treat.

The 2021 Myanmar coup d'état began on the early morning of February 1 2021 when democratically elected members of Myanmar's ruling party, the National League for Democracy, were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which vested power in a stratocracy.

The military announced on television station that it would remain in power for one year, with ultimate authority resting with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. It’s unclear what will happen after 12 months, though some suspect the military will stay in charge beyond that.

 

Myanmar Profile

Myanmar became independent from Britain in 1948. For much of its modern history, it has been under military rule.

Restrictions began loosening from 2010 onwards, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year.

In 2017, Myanmar's army responded to attacks on police by Rohingya militants with a deadly crackdown, driving more than half a million Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh in what the UN later called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".