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Anti-Coup Protests in Myanmar Continue Despite Increasing Crackdown

VOA News

   Nationwide demonstrations against last week's military overthrow of
   Myanmar's civilian government entered its fifth consecutive day
   Wednesday, despite the military's increasing use of force against the
   protesters.
   Security forces fired warning shots, rubber bullets and water cannons
   at protesters in an effort to disperse the crowds, leading to reports
   of injuries among the protesters.
   In the capital of Naypyitaw, tens of thousands of people peacefully
   demonstrated as police continued to order them to disperse and stay at
   home, according to a protester who spoke with VOA's Burmese Service.
   An unnamed physician who treated protesters at a Naypyitaw hospital
   told VOA's Burmese Service Tuesday that at least two demonstrators
   sustained what he believed were live gunshot wounds, one to the head,
   the other to the chest.
   Twenty-year-old Myat Thwe Khine was placed on a ventilator as she
   slipped into a coma after receiving a gunshot wound to the head,
   according to the physician, who said X-rays show the bullet was still
   lodged in her head.
   The doctor said Soe Wai, 23, sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.
   In an interview Wednesday with VOA's Burmese Service, an unidentified
   physician at the hospital said Myat Thwe Khine remains comatose and in
   critical condition with little chance to survive.
   Soe Wai is recovering and no longer in critical condition, the doctor
   said.
   A United Nations expert on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called
   on security forces to "stand down" Wednesday after becoming "alarmed at
   the increasing levels of force against peaceful protesters."
   "Myanmar military personnel and police need to know that 'following
   orders' is no defense for committing atrocities and any such defense
   will fail, regardless of their place in the chain of command," Andrews
   said in a statement. "International crimes are manifestly unlawful."
   More than a week after the military detained de facto leader Aung San
   Suu Kyi and other senior members of the civilian government, the
   military increased its pressure on Suu Kyi's National League for
   Democracy with a raid on the party's headquarters in Yangon late
   Tuesday night.
   Tuesday's protests occurred hours after the military announced an 8
   p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew would be imposed in the cities of Yangon and
   Mandalay, where demonstrations were also held. The regime has also
   banned gatherings of more than four people across the country.

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