Burmese people continued their protests in Yangon on March 27.
Burma’s military government continued its crackdown on pro-democracy protests on Saturday, killing more than a hundred people on Military Day.
Myanmar’s military government continued its brutal crackdown on protests across the country on Armed Forces Day (March 27) with the help of police, killing more than a hundred people. It was the deadliest day in Myanmar since the February 1 military coup.
At least 114 people were killed across Myanmar that day, including at least 29 in Mandalay, including a 5-year-old boy, Burmese media outlet The Myanmar Now reported Saturday evening. The Associated Press, citing an independent researcher in Yangon, said the death toll in Myanmar that day was 107. Both figures surpass the March 14 record of 90 people killed.
Security forces also reportedly killed civilians in the Sagaing region of central Burma, the eastern town of Lashio and Bago near Yangon.
At least two protesters were killed in the central Burmese town of Myingyan. Thu Ya Zaw, a local resident, said, “They shoot us like they kill birds and chickens, and even kill people right in our homes.” “We will continue to protest no matter what. We must fight until the junta collapses.”
The junta also sent fighter jets Saturday to launch an air strike on an area controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) near the Thai border, killing two people and forcing local residents to take refuge in other areas. The Karen National Union said earlier Saturday that it had captured a Burmese army base, killing 10 government soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel.
The junta also held a large military parade in the capital, Naypyidaw, to mark Armed Forces Day. Junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing again defended the coup at the parade, pledging to relinquish power after new elections, but did not specify a date for the elections.
Burmese state media said the junta warned protesters at Saturday’s demonstration that they could be shot in the head.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Guterres said in a statement Saturday that he “condemned in the strongest terms the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and young people, by Myanmar security forces,” and urged the military to refrain from a violent crackdown.
U.S. Ambassador to Burma Thomas Vajda issued a statement saying, “On Burma Armed Forces Day, security forces are killing unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they are sworn to protect. This bloodshed is appalling. This is not the act of professional soldiers or police forces. The people of Burma have made it clear: they do not want to live under military rule. We call for an immediate end to the violence and the restoration of a democratically elected government.”
The European Union also issued a statement condemning the violence by the Burmese junta. “This 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day will forever be remembered as a day of horror and shame,” the statement said, adding that “the killing of unarmed civilians, including children, is an act that cannot be condoned.”
Dan Chugg, the UK’s Burmese guru, said Burmese security forces “disgraced themselves by killing unarmed civilians,” and that “at a Time of economic crisis, a new crown virus and a deteriorating humanitarian situation, today’s military parade and extrajudicial killings clearly demonstrate the junta’s priorities.”
The Burmese military had killed at least 328 people and arrested, prosecuted or sentenced more than 2,900 by Saturday.
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